M is for Monster
by Ichiban Victory
Summary: While out questing for Justice, Amelia comes across a village being menaced by a monster. After taking the task upon herself to vanquish the foe, Amelia soon finds she's gotten herself in over her head! Things are not as they seem...
1. Doing good is its own reward!

Zelgadis ran as fast as his legs could carry him, trying to get as far away as possible.

"I was such an idiot! Why did I even try?"

Zelgadis cursed himself as he ran, trying to put the recent betrayal behind him as he tried to think what his next course of action should be.

(Ooh, opening of mystery...)

The trip had been rather uneventful. Actually, most of her recent excursions into the outside world had been uneventful as of late. Amelia couldn't help but sigh. How could she go Questing for Justice if there was no justice to be had?

"Maybe it's time to go round up some evildoing bandits, just like Miss Lina!" Amelia folded her arms and nodded her head in approval. It definitely wasn't as fun to do alone, but it would be a small challenge, and that's what she was out here for, right?

"Okay! So it's decided!" Amelia stood up from her chair and pointed to the skies, no doubt causing nearby people to stop and stare. Amelia became aware of a few people whispering, but she brushed it aside. She took a few coins out and placed them next to her finished meal, then headed out of the quaint restaurant.

It was a bright and sunny day outside, just as she had left it. To the untrained eye it would have seemed a perfectly normal day, but Amelia knew better. She knew that evildoers lurked, even on the sunniest days. She glanced about, looking for a town hall, a message board, or even a citizen in distress. Anything that would alert her to wrongs in need of righting.

Just as she spied what appeared to be a local message board, she heard a distant cry of alarm.

"Someone in trouble!" Without a second thought, Amelia dashed toward the sound of the cry. She came upon a group of people massed around a frightened man.

"What is it? What happened?" People all about pressed the man for answers.

The frightened man took a moment to collect himself. "I was out gathering in the forest...when...when I saw it." He gasped for air.

"What did you see?" The crowd pressed further.

"I-it was huge! Had giant wings, and sharp fangs! Most unnatural thing I ever...it was a monster!" The man looked to his fellows in fright.

Amelia stepped forward. "Did it attack you?"

The man stopped to search out the unfamiliar voice. He blinked when he saw a young girl staring back at him. "Uh, no. I don't think it saw me. I ran in fright as soon as I saw it come near."

"Where was it? How far away was it?" Amelia looked intently at the man.

The man scratched his head, and looked over his shoulder. "Can't say exactly. I was a bit too scared out of my wits, you got to realize. 'Twas a way down the road and a ways in the forest, that's for sure." He looked questioningly at Amelia. "You're not thinking of going to look for it, are you?"

Amelia shook her head. "No, I intend to search it out, and if it turns out to be evil, I shall smite it with the Hammer of Justice!" She pumped her fist in anticipation.

The crowd and the man all gasped in awe. "But miss, aren't you a little young to be out there alone? 'Tis dangerous."

Amelia stood up to her full height. "Nonsense! I've been crusading against evil for the past two years at least! A mere monster isn't going to faze me."

Some in the crowd applauded, others cried tears of joy. Many others just gave each other a look. Surely this girl couldn't be for real...

The man clasped onto Amelia's hands. "Oh miss, if you were to rid us of this frightful beast, we would be so thankful!" Suddenly his face fell. "...but we are not very well off, and would not be able to pay you much, if at all."

Amelia shook her head. "I do not do this for monetary gain, but to bring about justice to those who cannot attain it themselves. Why, to even ask for a reward is the pinnacle of selfishness! Fear not, dear citizens, for I, Amelia, will rid you of this fearsome beast!"

With cheering from the crowd, Amelia marched out of the town with a sole purpose in mind. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she got further down the road. "If only Daddy could see me. He would be so proud!"

As she got farther away from the village, she spied discarded berries and other bounties from the forest scattered about the road. The frightened man must have been gathering food when he encountered the beast, inadvertently leaving a trail. Amelia gave herself a mental pat on the back for her honed detective skills as she followed the trail, which sure enough, led into the forest.

The farther into the forest she went, the quieter it got. Eventually Amelia couldn't even hear a single bird's call, or the irate chatter of local squirrels. Amelia couldn't help but give a small shudder, before steeling herself to continue on. It was close, she could sense it.

She heard a slight rustle. So slight she thought it to be her imagination, but then she saw something disappear into the nearby brush. It was here. Amelia took a battle stance and exclaimed, "You cannot hide from me, monster! Come out, or I will be forced to drag you out by the swift Hand of Justice!"

Amelia was answered with silence. Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her fist. "That was your warning! Now prepare yourself...for..." she grew silent as she realized that whatever had been before her was no longer there. Even though she hadn't seen it, she could sense it, and now she couldn't sense anything at all. It was if it had completely vanished! ...or perhaps...

A slight rustle from behind caused her to look over her shoulder. As she gazed at the bush, a looming figure burst out and struck at her! Amelia yelped in fright and forced herself to face the monster, preparing to cast a spell at it. Something collided with her legs, knocking her to the ground.

The last thing Amelia saw was long, dagger-like teeth coming at her, before all faded to darkness...

(No! Destined to be munched on!)

The creature in question gazed down at Amelia, sniffing tentatively at her still form. It looked about the clearing, as if unsure what to do, before seizing a hold of her cape in its sharp teeth and dragging her along the forest floor.

To be continued...

_Author's notes: So, how's that for an opening chapter? All I have to say is...Amelia is scary when she's by herself! (Yet, it was so much fun to write!)_

_This has been my "top secret" fic for well over a year now. The idea originally came to me in a very messed up dream, which I fixed up and changed a lot. I was actually afraid of writing it because I have done similar fics in the past (if only in appearance, since this went in a direction I'd not really planned), but then a wonderful fic came along!_

_...I'm referring to Raven Summersong's "A Steady Wish". (Go read it if you haven't already!) Actually, the only reason this story exists is because Raven Summersong gave me the encouragement to write it, so this fanfic is dedicated to her. (Thank you again! It was fun to collaborate our ideas!)_

_I have most of this written out already (and many chapters yet to go), so people don't need to fear me taking over 2 years to finish it. I'm going to try and post up a chapter a week...most likely on Saturday or Sunday since those are the days I'm not busy with college._

Next time: Amelia's gaze also fell to the sword in her hand, and she dropped it in shock. She hadn't noticed before, but now that she had seen the hilt, there was no mistaking it. That was Zelgadis' sword... She looked at the beast, tears in her eyes. "What did you do to him?"


	2. Dealing with Dragonoids

Her head was pounding. That's the first thing Amelia became aware of. She cautiously cast a Recovery spell to ease the pain before opening her eyes. She blinked a few times, but no matter how she tried, all she saw around her was total darkness. An oddity, since she couldn't remember night falling, and even then there were always stars or a moon out to provide even a small portion of light.

Amelia eased herself into a sitting position, not sure of her surroundings, and not wanting to bump into anything in the darkness. She held her hand out and cast a lighting spell. Suddenly light was everywhere, and Amelia quickly realized she was in a cave. She noticed something large nearby, and leaned in closer to figure out what it was.

When she saw the teeth from before, she had to resist screaming in fright. Whatever it was, it was asleep, and she didn't want to do anything to wake it. Instead she took a moment to study it, hoping to find anything that might indicate any weakness she might exploit if needed.

The man had certainly been right about wings. The creature looked very much like a dragon...if dragons weren't much larger than horses, and had long pointed ears. This 'dragon' also sported a long tail, with what appeared to be a club at the end. That must have been what knocked her off her feet before. Again she saw those large teeth, but she also noticed its mouth ended in a beak-like tip. It also had bony spikes all down its back, very much a complement to the claws at the ends of its feet.

A most formidable opponent, to be sure.

Amelia stood up as quietly as she could. She knew better than to cast spells in confined spaces (if her travels with Lina had taught her anything), so at this point her best chance at survival was to oh so quietly sneak past the sleeping monster...the sleeping monster with the piercing slitted eyes...

Amelia froze, looking slowly down to the head of the beast she had just about stepped over. The beast that was now staring intently at her. It lifted its head to meet her gaze, a deep hissing sound coming from its throat.

Amelia stumbled backward to where she had been, staring at the beast in fright. She didn't want to cast a spell at it, but she might not have any choice. She scanned the cave, looking for anything to use against the beast.

Not too far off she spotted a sword, and without thinking, picked it up and pointed it threateningly at the now standing beast. Her arms shook as she held the blade, unwanted memories from her past flooding back, but the fear of dying keeping her from dropping the one weapon she had sworn never to wield against another. She fought back a sob as she tried to meet the beast's gaze, hoping that if it saw her intent it would back down.

The beast looked at the sword, as if amused to see someone dare to hold the blade up against it.

Amelia's gaze also fell to the sword in her hand, and she dropped it in shock. She hadn't noticed before, but now that she had seen the hilt, there was no mistaking it. That was Zelgadis' sword... She looked at the beast, tears in her eyes. "What did you do to him?"

It just looked back at her, then back down at the sword. It then turned its head and looked at the back wall of the cave, then back at Amelia.

Amelia tried to look behind her, but was afraid to take her gaze off of the creature. It hadn't tried attacking yet, but it might just be waiting for an opening. And if it had taken out someone as strong as Zelgadis, she knew she had no chance of surviving against this creature. She looked back into the creature's eyes as she slowly backed away, toward the back of the cave.

The creature just watched, not making any movement to follow.

Amelia reached the back wall, and found a small pack laying on the ground. She sank down to her knees and picked up the pack, pulling out a thin book from within. She knew before opening it what it truly was. She had seen Zelgadis write in it on many occasions during their travels. A single tear streaked down her cheek as she looked back up at the creature. It still hadn't made any movements, seemingly content to lay back and watch.

Amelia turned her attention back to the small book as she opened it. She was met with various scrawlings and notes Zelgadis had written. Some were incidents from their travels. Others were various leads he had been following. She eventually came upon a hand drawn map, with two places circled.

The first was a small upside down v, a mountain, Amelia guessed. Or maybe even a cave... Near it she read the word "stash". The other circle was across the map, and within it was a building. There was no description by it, but a small asterisk. She looked down to the bottom of the page, seeing another asterisk, with a lengthy note:

_From what I have gathered, a man knowledgeable in the making of chimeras resides here. It is my intent to search him out, to see if perhaps he knows of any way to unmake a chimera. I was warned he's wary of weapons and the like, and as I'd rather not forget my personal effects, I am hiding them away in a cave I found._

Amelia looked for more writing, but that was all she found. Every page after was blank. She reached back into the bag, but all she pulled out was...her bracelet she had given to Zelgadis what felt like a long time before. She knew he treasured the book and sword too much to have left them behind. Perhaps he had been caught by the creature, but it couldn't have really been able to eat him...could it?

As she tried to make sense of it all, she heard a rather wet squishing sound. She jerked up to see the creature munching on...an apple. She breathed a small sigh of relief.

The creature felt her gaze and turned to look at her. It swallowed down the apple in its mouth, then pulled another out of a small bundle using it's...er...clawed hand, Amelia reasoned. It held the apple out and looked to her, as if in offering.

Amelia shook her head. She didn't feel at all hungry, especially since she could only imagine it was staving off its hunger until it was ready to dine on her. She cringed at the thought, but couldn't help but watch as the creature continued to pull more apples out of the bundle at its feet. She looked closer at the bundle, as the color reminded her of...Zelgadis' cloak. She even saw the inner lining was the exact color as Zelgadis'.

Zelgadis had definitely been here, no question about it. Amelia wanted to find out if he had been to the chimera man's place, but she was trapped. Amelia found a small space in the cave wall and struggled in, folding herself up as she held her knees to her chin. She stayed like that for a time, trying to think of some way to get out of her current situation.

The creature finally stopped munching on apples, and looked up to see where its captive had gotten to. Not seeing her, it got up and approached where it had last seen her. It looked into the small gap in the wall, being rewarded with a loud shriek from Amelia. It quickly backed off, wandering off until Amelia couldn't hear it any longer.

As silence settled on Amelia, she couldn't help but feel curious. Just what was it doing? If it meant to kill her, it wouldn't be so skittish of her, would it? Come to think of it, it had had the chance to kill her when it first jumped out at her, and hadn't. It hadn't attacked that man from earlier, either.

Maybe Amelia had been too quick to assume it was out to get her. Maybe it was actually a good creature...no matter how scary it looked. Either way, she didn't want to sit in the cave any longer. She needed to find out what had happened to Zelgadis!

Amelia poked her head out of her little hole, then quietly snuck out. She stood and dusted herself off, before trying to walk as silently as possible out of the cave.

She needn't have bothered. No matter how silently she tried, the creature had excellent hearing. It sat at the opening of the cave, waiting for her to round the last bend. When she came in to view it glanced at her from the corner of its eye before resuming its post watching the entrance of the cave.

Amelia stopped dead in her tracks when it looked at her, but when it looked away, she slowly crept up near it, if not clinging to the opposite side of the cave wall. Amelia bit her lip. Should she make a run for it and blast it if it pursued her, or would it be better to try and reason with it? She wasn't even sure which spell would actually do it harm, and she certainly didn't want to anger it. She had always been taught to settle all matters through diplomacy. Perhaps this creature was capable to see reason...

"Umm...mister creature...thing?" Amelia squeaked. She cringed as it turned its gaze on her, but when it made no move she felt somewhat bolder. "Well, you see, my friend was here, but I think he went elsewhere, and, you see, I was hoping to find where he went to see if maybe he's still there, and I was just wondering if perhaps you would let me...go?"

She held her breath as she waited for a response. Anything to indicate it had understood her.

The creature studied her a moment, then made a humming sound.

Amelia shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand you."

The creature gave what seemed to Amelia to be a sigh, then stepped out of the cave. It looked back at her, as if urging her to follow.

Amelia bit on her lip again. Just what was it doing? Did it want her to follow? She stepped out cautiously into the open, but kept a fair distance. "Do you know the way?"

The creature made a humming noise again, then nodded in the universal gesture for "yes".

Amelia smiled, but didn't move. "You'll not do me any harm, will you?" Amelia jumped when she saw it dig its talons into the ground.

The creature looked back at her, seeing the fright in her eyes, and quickly relaxed its grip. It even went so far as to shake the dirt from its claws, then again met Amelia's gaze, this time shaking its head, "no" at her.

Amelia's fears were finally put at ease. While she wasn't too happy following such a frightening creature, so long as it could guide her and wouldn't harm her, she would trust it.

To be continued...

_Author's notes: Guess I lied this time! I do plan on sticking to updating once a week, but at times like this I just might update more often. (I am silly like that.)_

_Amelia finally finds evidence that Zelgadis was once in the area! Just where could he have gotten himself off to without his belongings?_

Next chapter: The man waved her off. "Never you mind. You don't need to know anything, anyway, experiment. Come, bring her this way, Mino."


	3. Gasp! Revelation!

Following after a menacing dragon-like creature wasn't too exciting, to be sure, but Amelia was glad for it guiding her to the mansion in question. They had made so many twists, turns, and whatnot through the forest that she knew she would have gotten hopelessly lost by herself.

When the mansion came in to view, Amelia noticed her guide slow down. It glanced about nervously, and if she knew any better she would have thought it looked frightened. That struck her as odd. What could scare something as intimidating as this beast?

"Mister creature, what is it? What's the matter?" Amelia nearly reached out a hand to try and comfort it, before reminding herself she still didn't know its true intentions.

The creature made a deep hissing sound at the mansion, then looked back at her. A small whimper came from deep within its throat.

"You don't like that place." Amelia interpreted. "But why? Did that man do something to you?"

The creature growled quietly, then resumed its march to the mansion. When it reached the massive doors, it stepped aside and motioned for Amelia to come forward to knock on the door. Amelia complied, grabbing a door knocker, knocking twice. (She didn't want to seem rude, after all!)

They both waited in silence, but then Amelia heard something scamper to the opposite side of the door. The door opened to reveal a small humanoid...thing. Amelia wasn't too sure what kind (or was it kinds?) of animal it was, but it was staring back at her imploringly just the same.

Amelia cleared her throat. "I, that is, we," she glanced back at her companion, who nodded approvingly, "wish to have a conference with your master. Is he in?"

The doorthing nodded enthusiastically and made what sounded like a laughing sound as it grabbed a hold of Amelia's pant leg, as it pulled for her to follow.

Amelia beat back the urge to kick the small oddity off of her leg, but the last thing she wanted to do was leave a bad impression, so she allowed herself to be dragged down the hall. Her companion followed silently behind, although she heard it hiss in disapproval more than once.

The trio finally entered into a large room. The place stank of a laboratory, and Amelia tried her best not to look at all the vials, capsules, and other containers, nor at the misshapen creatures held within. Amelia spied a man in the room, as he turned around to greet his guests.

The man grinned warmly. "Ah, Servee, new guests? And look, you found my wayward experiment!" The man eyed Amelia's companion with scorn.

Amelia stood up straight, trying her best to be formal. "Excuse me, sir, but I have reason to believe that someone came to visit you recently, and well, I was wondering if you had seen him."

The man tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Could have. I get many curious people. What did this person look like?"

Amelia twiddled her fingers nervously. "Well, he's on the tall side, and slim. Not weak, mind you! And...well..." Amelia suddenly flushed. It didn't help that her companion was making funny gagging noises. "Truth be told, he is a chimera, sir. He's got blue skin and silver hair."

"Ah!" The man's face lit up. "Why yes, he came by just the other day! He did leave rather quickly though. I can't see why, since I had only begun to help him with his search."

Amelia jumped as her companion began to growl ferociously at the man, advancing with his teeth bared and claws extended.

The man yawned. "I suppose I shouldn't feel too hurt. After all, he's come back, and with another to experiment on as well."

"What!" Amelia staggered back. "You mean he...you're...?"

Her companion looked back at her, and hung its head. His head, Amelia realized. She hadn't noticed before, but his ears were basically the same (if not much larger now), and he still retained stony ridges above his eyes. They both came back to reality when they heard the man chant, the creature, no, Zelgadis leaping to action.

Amelia gasped as he leapt at the man, covering her eyes for fear of seeing the man's fate at those horrible claws and teeth...but it didn't happen. She dropped her hands back down to her side as she could only look on in confusion. Zelgadis was turned away from her, facing the man, so she couldn't tell what he was doing. The man however still had that smug grin on his face.

"Bring her to me."

With that Zelgadis turned away from the man. His eyes glowed a deep red, and even Amelia knew what this meant. She looked for an exit, but was met with the doorthing from before, now baring its own pointed (if little) teeth at her. With no place to run, and not wanting to fight Zelgadis, Amelia was easily dispatched when Zelgadis leapt and pinned her to the ground.

Amelia grit her teeth in pain. If Zelgadis applied any more weight to her arms he'd surely crush them. She glared up at the man from her spot on the ground. "What did you do to Mister Zelgadis?"

"Who?" The man looked at her in confusion. "Ah, you mean Mino here. I didn't do anything, aside from tinker with a spell previously placed on him. He's a very interesting creation, to be sure. I bet Miss Vrumugun was praised for her skill."

"Miss?" Amelia's eyes grew large. Who the heck did he mean?

The man waved her off. "Never you mind. You don't need to know anything, anyway, experiment. Come, bring her this way, Mino." The man coaxed Zelgadis to drag Amelia across the floor, eliciting many cries of pain from the trapped girl, to a large capsule. "Move one inch to get away, and he _will_ kill you. He's completely under my control."

Amelia suddenly wished she had never agreed to help out that man. She could have spared herself a lot of hurt and misery if she had just been selfish and thought of herself first, for once. She mentally slapped herself. No! Champions of Justice never faltered against doing good! Even when they were met with dire circumstances!

Amelia cringed as the capsule was placed over her, and a slimy substance filled it, replacing all of the oxygen. _"Where is someone to save me for the sake of justice when I need them?"_ Amelia fought back tears as she looked at Zelgadis' still blank face. Then she was overcome by massive shocks, and again felt herself blacking out.

(Zelgadis, how could you?)

When Zelgadis came to his senses he was quick to note that he wasn't where he had been last he could remember. What's more, Amelia had just been right in front of him, and now she was nowhere to be seen! He sure didn't remember seeing that large capsule in the room.

Wait a second...

Zelgadis looked closer at the capsule, trying to make out the figure concealed within whatever ooze the thing was filled with. He made to get in closer for a better look, but stopped when he heard approaching footsteps. He knew who was coming, and glared with contempt.

The man from before came back into the room, holding a small vial in his hand. He smiled at Zelgadis. "Mino, I see you've come back around. See what I've done with that experiment you brought me?"

Zelgadis bared his teeth and hissed, thumping his tail against the floor.

"At ease. I thought you'd be happy to have a friend. It would do wonders for your aggression, you know." The man grinned eagerly, then stepped over to the capsule. "And you know this won't take long. At least, I think. I didn't take into account that you were already a chimera before I tinkered around a bit more, but it's the same principle. Either way, I digress. It'll be fun to see what takes shape, eh?"

Zelgadis roared with anger as he got up onto his feet and stalked up behind the man. The man didn't even turn as he said, "Get any closer, and I'll be sure her death is swift. No one is to interfere with my pursuit for knowledge, not even the likes of you."

Zelgadis' bloodlust died as soon as it had come, and he backed down. He continued to express his outrage by hissing at the man.

Both stopped their dispute with the other as the man placed the contents of the vial into a mechanism that inserted it into the ooze within the capsule, turning the ooze from a sickly pink to a green color. Zelgadis looked on in horror as the unconscious girl within began to twitch and spasm uncontrollably.

"Yes...yes..." The man stared intently into the capsule. "So far everything is happening just as the last time. Any moment now, we ought to be seeing some results."

Zelgadis couldn't help but watch in morbid curiosity to see what would happen, even while secretly hoping that nothing would happen at all, and that he would be able to get Amelia away from the madman.

Both sat in silence waiting to see any change within the capsule, but aside from Amelia twitching now and again, nothing did. She even finally settled back into a state of total unconsciousness. Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief, then set about planning an escape.

"Hey, what's happened? It didn't work? Did I miscalculate something somewhere? Hmm..." While the man scratched his head in wonder, Zelgadis took his moment of being distracted to sneak in closer. When the man finally did become aware of his presence, Zelgadis gave him a toothy grin, before clubbing him across the skull with his tail.

Zelgadis could only stare at the complicated controls for the capsule, wishing that once, just once he had paid attention to Eris when he had been with her in her laboratory. Even if it had disgusted him, he might have retained some knowledge on the safest way to get Amelia out.

No such luck. He would have to do something more drastic, and hope for the best. Zelgadis raked his claws across the glass capsule, but all he did was scratch it. He struck out at it again and again in frustration, but then thought better of it and dragged his claws all around the top portion of the capsule. Then, with a precision tap of his tail against the scratch, the top part broke cleanly away, spilling its ooze all over, but more importantly giving Zelgadis access to Amelia.

Zelgadis hoisted himself up onto his hind legs, so he could better tear at the broken capsule, until enough was broken away that he could pull Amelia out. Then, being as careful as he could, he gripped her under one arm. He took one more look at the madman behind this mess, happy to see he was still very much unconscious himself, then made a wobbly dash to escape.

To be Continued...

_Author's Notes: (I lie again! I have a lot of homework to do this weekend, and nothing to do at the moment, so you get another chapter a day early.)_

_I bet you weren't expecting that, were you? You thought Amelia would have it easy this time around. Ha! ...anyone who knows me should know that I never let Amelia (or anyone) get off easy. No playing favorites!_

_Dorel is my very own creation, although he is based loosely off of an existing character in the Slayers world. (More to be explained on that later.) He's also very odd. He likes to give his creations names based on words. "Servee" for example is short for "servant", and "Mino" is short for "Minion". He's just weird and unoriginal like that. As for who he was referring to before...if you haven't read the Slayers novels yet, go get them and do so now! You are seriously depriving yourself by not reading them._

_Speaking of Servee, when I conceived this I imagined him to be similar to a lemur in look, minus the long tail. (Lemurs have a very intense stare. I like them.) I should try drawing him one of these days..._

_Zelgadis was a fun one to try and transfer his quirks and mannerisms over to his altered self. His pounding his clubbed tail against the ground, for instance. Zelgadis seems to have the habit of pounding his fist when frustrated, but since he can't exactly do that very well any more, he had to find a new way to do it. Expect to see it a lot as things progress... (And he's skilled at scoring glass! I did it in a science class way back when, and I found it a very appropriate solution to Zelgadis freeing Amelia without causing her harm. Huzzah for science!)_

_Enough babbling from me..._

Next time: Zelgadis could hear Amelia's distress. "We'll be there soon, just hold on. We'll make it!" He then picked up the pace, just in case she couldn't.


	4. What goes around comes around

"Ugh..." Amelia came to, again surrounded by darkness. She shivered, realizing she was all wet. She wasn't sure why she wasn't in the mansion anymore, but she had a sneaking suspicion. Unless of course she had been tossed into a basement, but she didn't think so. Basements had their own dank smell, to be sure, but there was just something distinctive about caves.

She cast a light spell, just to be sure, and felt a bit of relief when she saw the cave walls around her. Everything was just as she had left it, aside from one thing. "Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia called out into the darkness.

She sat, straightening out her messy hair and wet clothing, but didn't hear any response. Something moved, just out of her line of sight. Amelia squinted in the dim light, making out the erratic movement of the tip of a tail.

Zelgadis was here, and by the looks of it, distressed.

Amelia stood up and walked quietly to his side. Zelgadis was turned away from her, his head resting on the ground. Amelia could hear him whimpering quietly. She reached out her hand and gently placed it on his shoulder.

Zelgadis started in surprise, quickly turning to face the threat. When he saw Amelia, he visibly calmed down. He sighed in discontent.

"What's wrong?" Amelia felt at a loss. She was well aware that he was unable to verbally communicate, and she knew he would have to be upset about being even less human than before, but she didn't know what else to say.

Zelgadis turned away and sighed again, but after a moment revealed his forearms.

Amelia gasped. His...er...hands were shredded and bleeding. She felt herself slipping in to shock to see so much blood, but she willed herself to stay calm. She closed her eyes to calm her emotions so she could cast a Recovery spell. Then, spell at the ready, she healed both of his clawed hands until there was no indication of them ever being badly wounded in the first place.

Amelia sat down, still a bit shaken. "You got hurt helping me." Amelia turned her gaze to the opposite wall. She had come out here to help, not be a hindrance. But then, it seemed whenever she crossed paths with Zelgadis he ended up saving her. Even heroines were in need of saving every now and again...

Amelia looked back at Zelgadis, who was looking worriedly back at her. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis, today just didn't work out how I thought it would at all. From volunteering to rid the village of a monster, only to find you're the monster, to being captured by some insane chimera maker!" Amelia lowered her raised fists. "...thank you."

Zelgadis blinked and made a slight humming sound.

"Thank you for looking out for me." Amelia smiled, but played with her hands in awkward nervousness. True he had first attacked and captured her, but now wasn't the time to bring that up.

The two sat in silence for a time. Zelgadis reflecting on whatever was on his mind (Amelia wish she knew), and Amelia pondering what to do next. If she went to confront that man again, no doubt he would take control of Zelgadis and use him against her again. Maybe if they had some help they might be able to bring that man to justice...

"That's it!" Amelia shot up to her feet, startling Zelgadis. She looked eagerly at him. "We can go to the village and get help! Surely they'll see what a horrible man he is and gladly help us bring him to justice?" Amelia pumped her fists up and down in excitement.

Zelgadis made a gagging sound and what she could have sworn was a disgusted look.

"What, do you think they wouldn't help? Aside from that, what else can we do? We already tried facing him by ourselves, and although I'm not really sure what happened, it didn't go well." Amelia gave Zelgadis a stern look. "We can't just camp out in this cave forever, Mister Zelgadis."

Zelgadis grumbled in annoyance, then got to his feet. He lifted his left foreleg and held it out, gesturing for Amelia to lead the way.

"You never went to the village, did you?" Amelia bit on her thumb, remembering Zelgadis was in the habit of avoiding civilization when traveling alone. "Okay, then follow me..."

(Off to town we go...)

It was getting late in the day before Amelia and Zelgadis sighted the village farther down the road. Zelgadis started to fidget more than usual, continuously glancing back to the trees not far off the road. He finally stopped following Amelia and sulked off into the trees, peering back out at his confused companion.

Amelia stopped in her tracks, but didn't follow Zelgadis off the road. She knew well enough why he was hiding in the safety of the trees. She glanced nervously back at the nearby village. "So...umm...I guess I'll go ahead then. You'll stay nearby, right?"

Zelgadis nodded then disappeared into the brush. Amelia could still see his shape moving along through the forest, keeping pace with her on the road. As she entered the village, the locals all stopped what they were doing and gathered around her.

"You're alive!" The man Amelia had originally encountered looked at her in shock. "I thought for sure that beast would've gotten you...what happened?"

Amelia scowled. "He's not the real threat. Did you know there is an evil man north of here? He takes unsuspecting people and experiments on them!"

The villagers all looked nervously at each other, but didn't say anything.

Amelia took their silence as confusion. "Such evil men that would attack a peace-loving girl such as myself need to be punished! I cannot do it alone, but if we band together we...can..." Amelia stopped as she saw the villagers visibly pale as they backed away. She glanced behind, thinking perhaps Zelgadis had come in to view, but nothing was there. She turned back to the still retreating crowd. "What is it?"

"Y-you say he got to you?" The villagers all started to pick up their shovels, axes, and various other tools of their trade.

"Yes...but I escaped. What are you doing?" Amelia's righteous wrath wavered to be replaced with a feeling of dread.

A man held up his pickax as if to protect himself. "Leave, and never come back!"

Amelia backed away in fright. "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? I..." Amelia was suddenly overtaken with pain.

The crowd all watched in terror as Amelia sprouted huge wings and a long tail. One man that actually had a sword turned to his fellows. "Quickly, we have to kill it before it changes completely!"

The crowd all surged forward, bearing their makeshift weapons and beating ferociously on the prone girl. Amelia did her best to fend them off, but there were far too many! "Stop! Please! I won't hurt you!" She dodged the man with the sword, but screamed out in pain as another's pitchfork pierced into her side.

"Leave her alone!" There was suddenly a terrible roar, and a large figure landed right in the middle of the mob. Zelgadis, with his wings unfurled, bared teeth, and lashing tail was a sight to behold. Those that weren't knocked aside by his massive tail and wicked claws fled as fast as they could. Zelgadis scooped Amelia off of the ground and hefted her onto his back. "Hang on, Amelia!"

Battered, bruised, and even bleeding, Amelia wrapped one arm around Zelgadis' neck, and clung to one of the spikes on his back with the other. Zelgadis then dashed away as fast as he could, before the villagers could regroup and attack him as well.

"Mister Zelgadis, they..."

"They knew, I know. I heard the whole thing. And then they attacked you! I should have killed them all." Zelgadis growled as he continued running.

Amelia felt hot tears of betrayal sting her eyes. "How could they do that? I didn't do anything to them."

Zelgadis growled, "That's what people are like. They fear anything _different_."

Amelia buried her head in Zelgadis' neck, tightening her grip so she wouldn't fall. "I'm sorry if I ever did that to you, Mister Zelgadis."

Zelgadis ran on in silence.

Amelia lifted her head back up. "Mister Zelgadis?"

"I heard you, Amelia. Just...just worry about holding on for now. We'll be lucky if they don't send out search parties to find us."

Amelia nodded, knowing they still had a ways to go before they reached the safety of the cave. Hopefully none of the villagers knew of its existence. While she thought, her hands began to sting. She grit her teeth and watched as her fingers lengthened, and claws sprouted from their tips.

Zelgadis could hear Amelia's distress. "We'll be there soon, just hold on. We'll make it!" He then picked up the pace, just in case she couldn't.

It felt like forever before they finally reached the cave. Zelgadis plunged in without even slowing down, only coming to a stop when he reached the cavern at the end. He then lowered the shoulder Amelia was clinging to so that she could get off without further injuring herself.

Amelia crumpled to the ground, whimpering in pain. Zelgadis saw that the wound in her side was still bleeding. "Amelia, I know it hurts, but you must heal yourself. You'll not get another chance."

Amelia nodded her head in reply, forcing herself into a sitting position. "Re-Recovery!" She cried weakly, trying her best to concentrate the healing where she was injured the most seriously. She even healed her very alien wings and tail, as they had been badly battered in the attack before.

Zelgadis watched over her the whole while. He also kept alert for any sound of people approaching. After a time Amelia stopped moaning in pain. "Are you okay?"

Amelia stared at her wings, willing them to move. She then did the same with her tail, staring at it curiously. "I think so. I-ar.." Amelia put her hands to her mouth, feeling her canines become extremely large. So much so it was difficult for her to talk.

"Amelia?" Zelgadis came around to face her.

"Arh, Nither 'Elgahdich, ikth kahnt tok 'igh." Amelia made an annoyed sound, but kept her mouth covered. Her canines were now reaching down below her chin. She could feel Zelgadis' gaze on her, and turned away.

Zelgadis craned his neck to try and get a better look at Amelia. "What are you doing?" When she didn't answer, he reached out and pulled her hands away.

"O!" Amelia tried to turn her head again, but Zelgadis had already seen. She met his gaze, waiting to see disgust or ridicule in his eyes. Instead he had the same serious look he always had on his face. Even with the beak and elongated face and all, the look was still the same.

"You don't need to hide from me, Amelia."

Amelia shook her head.

Zelgadis gripped one of his massive canines. "Look, Amelia, I've got them too. Mine are worse though, because they jut upward. I look stupid."

Amelia just looked at him, not sure if he was joking or not. Not wanting to try and talk, she made hand motions to indicate that he looked just fine (for a non-humanoid), and that at least his teeth were in proportion with the rest of his head. She sighed when he looked blankly at her. "Air thu igh!"

Zelgadis had to think that one over for a moment. Oh, too big... Zelgadis gave a sigh. "Amelia, I doubt you're done changing. I don't know why it's taken longer with you, but you'll not stay like this."

Amelia shuddered.

"Look, we're not going to stay like this. One way or another, we'll find a way to reverse it." Zelgadis tried to smile reassuringly at Amelia, but stopped when he saw all it did was scare her. "We should probably try and get some sleep for now. You're not going to be in any condition to leave any time soon."

Amelia nodded, then tried curling up on the ground. That didn't work too well, because then she was laying on a wing, which let her know it didn't appreciate being crushed. She then tried to lean up against the wall, but not only was it cold, she was basically sitting on her tail. Amelia stood up. And people thought it was bad when their feet fell asleep!

She glanced over to Zelgadis, who was laying on his stomach, his head nestled in his arms. At least he looked comfortable... Amelia lay down on her stomach and also tried laying her head in her arms, but her enlarged canines kept getting in the way. She finally gripped the offending teeth in her hands to keep them from touching the ground, then settled in.

It was going to be a long night...

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Moral of the story? If you've been subjected to crazy scientists, don't think you won't experience side effects!_

_This was a nice long section (compared to the norm). I didn't really want to cut it off in the middle, so I hope you all enjoyed the extended...ness of the chapter. And yeah, Amelia has issues with blood. Not nearly so bad as Gracia, but she still has her own issues with the stuff._

_Also, I think I am obsessed with making people talk weird. Amelia's jaw was unable to close, so yeah, more issues... (If you need a translation, Amelia said, "I can't talk right", "NO!", and, "they're too big".)_

_Curious how the townsfolk reacted when they found out where Amelia had gone, isn't it? More on that later..._

_(And to my anonymous reviewer: makes you wonder, doesn't it. I pretty much left the incident up to the reader's imagination. As for the other question...Dorel is only human, and overestimated himself. Stinks to be him!)_

Next chapter: "Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia's jaw dropped. "That's stealing!"


	5. The choice to do good or evil

Zelgadis was startled awake by cries of anquish. He jumped to his feet, ready to take out whatever it was that had woken him. As he woke up more he realized what he was hearing was Amelia, who was writhing on the floor in pain. Unsure what to do, he watched over her. It wasn't until she started choking that he got in closer to see what was wrong.

Amelia's body was being warped; this was more evident when he got a closer look. Her clothing had already torn at the seams, and it would only be a matter of time before they were utterly torn apart. That wouldn't be a problem...

Zelgadis then realized that the clasp Amelia used to keep her cape on wasn't made out of cloth. Amelia was clawing at it, trying to get it off, but her body was spasming so badly that she was unable to. Zelgadis reached out to steady her, then worked to pry the clasp apart, finally allowing her to breathe again.

He felt so helpless just sitting there watching, but what could he do? Zelgadis finally got up and paced about, to work off his nervous energy, trying not to hear each cry of pain. He shuddered. It wasn't working so well. He looked back again, seeing that now Amelia's torso had stretched out, while her ribcage had deepened. Her face had elongated as well, and already he could see bony ridges growing out of her back.

Zelgadis finally turned away, and would have blushed. Even if she was no longer human in form, she was still so...naked! Zelgadis covered his eyes.

Amelia finally grew quiet, panting to catch her breath after her painful ordeal. "What...am I?" Amelia groaned.

Zelgadis dared a peek, relieved to see she was now 'clothed' in fur. "Uh, you look like...a big cat. Sort of."

Amelia eased herself back into a sitting position and stretched her wings out. "Sort of?"

Zelgadis tapped a claw nervously on the cave floor. "Well, how many cats do you know that have wings and a draconic tail?"

Amelia instinctively lifted a giant paw and began licking it, then thought better when she got dirt in her mouth. She glanced back at Zelgadis. "I guess about as many dragons I know with big ears." She smiled when Zelgadis reached up to touch an ear.

"They're not so big." He growled. "Anyway, we need to figure out what we're going to do. You were right we can't just sit in this cave, and there's no chance of us finding anyone to help us...unless we want to get killed. Perhaps if we stormed Dorel's mansion and forced him to..."

"No!" Amelia exclaimed, but averted her gaze when Zelgadis looked at her.

"Is something wrong? It seems the best thing to do since he is the one that did this." Zelgadis again tapped his claws upon the cave floor.

"You don't remember what he did?" That man. Dorel... Amelia snarled remembering what he had done.

"He was casting a spell, but after that...no, I don't remember anything before seeing you trapped in that capsule."

"He cast a mind control spell on you. He told me that he had already sensed one on you, so he reworked it to his advantage!" Amelia gnashed her teeth in anger.

Mind control...the only other to do that to him was...Rezo. He smashed his tail against the ground, shattering a few stones. "What did I do to you?"

"What?" Amelia looked at him in shock. Zelgadis stared intensely at her, indicating she'd not be able to avoid answering. "You...you pinned me to the floor, so I couldn't escape." Zelgadis smashed another stone, causing Amelia to jump. "I know it wasn't your fault, Mister Zelgadis! You couldn't help it! Even you said you have no memory of it."

Zelgadis didn't reply, instead stalking off, his tail thrashing wildly.

"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia bounded after him. "If you're going to blame yourself for something you couldn't control, then I must blame myself too! I originally came out here to kill you!"

Zelgadis stopped and looked at her. "That's because you didn't know it was me! And how could you? I am a monster..." He started to stalk off again.

"No!" Amelia chased after. "Mister Zelgadis, don't you see? You had no way of knowing what you were doing, but I knew exactly what I was doing! If you hadn't caught me by surprise, I would have killed you!"

Zelgadis hunched his shoulders and looked back at his persistant companion. "Just what are you trying to say?"

"Only that we are both as guilty as the other. Beating yourself up for something you couldn't help isn't going to solve anything." Amelia looked pleadingly at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis scowled at Amelia, knowing she was right, but not ready to admit it. Her persistance finally paid off, and he finally dropped the scowl.

Amelia smiled. "So what now?"

Zelgadis frowned. "Honestly, I have no idea. All we can really do for now is lay low, while we figure out what to do."

"Oh..." Amelia's smile dropped, as did her gaze. Zelgadis finally turned to ask about her silence, only to see she was searching about the cave. She finally gave up her search and glanced up at Zelgadis. "Did you have any more apples? Or any food, really..."

"I actually...ate them. You should have taken one when I offered." Zelgadis fidgeted nervously. "I can show you where I got them from. I'm feeling hungry myself."

"Okay!" Amelia beamed as she followed Zelgadis out into the morning sunshine. She noticed as she followed behind Zelgadis that he was headed in the direction of the village. Surely he wasn't headed there? Amelia bit her tongue and followed quietly, waiting to see for herself where they were going.

After a time the forest gave way to a small meadow, and within there were many fruit trees. Amelia was overjoyed to see many heavy with fruit, until she spied a basket sitting near the base of an apple tree.

"This orchard doesn't belong to anyone, does it?" Amelia secretly hoped that it didn't, because she hadn't eaten since the morning before.

Zelgadis just blinked at her. "Even if it does, what does that matter?" He made for the nearest tree.

"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia's jaw dropped. "That's stealing!"

Zelgadis was undeterred. He reached up the trunk of the tree to a branch laden with fruit. "Considering how the locals treated us, I consider it a fair trade."

"How can you say that?" Amelia could feel her righteous wrath building. "Even if they have treated us poorly, that doesn't excuse the fact that us taking their property is stealing! I refuse to take part in this." She twitched her tail in anger as she stalked back into the forest.

Zelgadis watched her go, feeling a small pang of guilt. He sighed, thumping his tail angrily on the ground. He was about to call after Amelia, when shouts were heard. He glanced in the direction they came from, to see a group of villagers headed his way. He knew they saw him by the way they were charging, in some vain attempt to scare him off. Not wanting another confrontation, Zelgadis dashed after where he had seen Amelia last.

Amelia was not far off into the forest, having hoped that Zelgadis would have seen the error of his ways, and that he'd soon follow. She couldn't help but smile when she saw him dashing in her direction. "Mister Zelgadis, I'm-"

"Run!" Zelgadis shouted, cutting her off.

Run? Why? Amelia looked over him to see he was being pursued by a group of villagers. Without a word she turned to follow Zelgadis, dismayed to see that he was easily outdistancing her, even though she was running as fast as she could. Not wanting to be left behind, she launched herself up into a tree.

"Okay, that was easier than I thought...but now what?" Amelia's heart leapt at the sound of the mob. They were still coming! She didn't want to risk jumping back down to the ground, for fear of being spotted, and jumping to the next tree was out of the question because it was too far away...

Amelia smacked herself. "I have wings!" She climbed as high into the tree as she could until she had enough room to spread her wings out, then held her breath as she leapt into the air. Her intent had been to, if anything, glide to the next tree, but she was caught in an updraft and felt herself rising higher in the the air.

Being familiar with wind spells, Amelia knew how to ride the current, but using magic was far different than using wings! After faltering a bit, she finally was able to propel herself forward, finding the flight to be rather exhilarating. Looking down through the trees, she could just make out Zelgadis, still dashing through the trees, but now he was weaving dramatically, trying to throw off any pursuers.

Zelgadis eventually reached a river, and paused long enough to listen for any more pursuers, and also to make sure Amelia had been able to keep up. He relaxed a little when all he heard was the sound of birdsong and other familiar forest sounds, but he couldn't see Amelia anywhere.

"Amelia?" Zelgadis called out, hoping to hear her reply.

"Up here!"

Zelgadis looked up to see Amelia in flight. She gracefully rode the wind as she neared him, then at the last moment faltered and fell into the river. He watched in surprise as she swam to shore.

"Brr! That's cold!" Amelia shook herself to get rid of the excess water, then grinned sheepishly at Zelgadis. "I'm still figuring this flying thing out."

Zelgadis flicked water off of his foot. "You did well for a first time."

Amelia beamed. "Have you tried to yet?"

"What, fly?" Zelgadis glanced nervously at his wings. "No..."

"How come? It's a lot of fun!" Amelia fanned her wings out as if to demonstrate.

Zelgadis sighed. "I wasn't sure if I could trust them. My wings, that is." He stretched them out and flapped them just to see if he could.

"I think you should try. I mean, we don't know how long we're going to be stuck like this, and it would be better to learn how to use everything to our advantage. I don't want to be left behind again." Amelia folded her wings back up, then shook herself again. "I definitely don't want to fall into the river again!" She smiled at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis gave her an unamused look, having been smacked in the face with water. "I thought you were hungry?"

"I am! I don't think we should go back near the village to find food, but there's got to be something edible out here." Amelia didn't see anything nearby, aside from the river. She looked at the water, taken back when she saw her reflection.

Zelgadis watched in mild amusement as Amelia made faces at herself. "What are you doing?"

Amelia didn't take her eyes off of her reflection. "I look so weird! And furry. My teeth are still really big, too." She stuck her tongue out. "This is so strange! Even though I don't look like me, it's still me."

Zelgadis sat next to her on the riverbank and looked into the water. "If you were an oversized housecat with wings." He smirked at his own reflection.

"Mister Zelgadis, you know what I meant." Amelia pouted. "Even you are still you," Amelia suddenly grinned, "if you were a runt of a dragon."

Zelgadis scowled slightly at the comment, but let it slide. "If you say so." He looked back into the water, this time focusing on the shadow he saw swimming by. Without warning he suddenly lunged forward, upsetting the water and Amelia as she was again doused. He came back up with a fish trapped in his jaws.

Amelia made a face. "How are you going to cook that?" She stared as he just looked at her, then swallowed his quarry. "Eew! How can you do that?"

"Normally I'd not eat it raw myself, but since I'm not 'normal', not to mention it doesn't taste the same, I can." Zelgadis just shrugged. "Go ahead, try yourself and you'll see what I mean."

"Blech!" Amelia crouched in front of the water and waited to see something swim by. Finally she spotted something, and also lunged forward.

Zelgadis again watched in amusement as she fell completely into the water. She came up a moment later, but with a fish in tow.

"Rgh! Shtill c-culd!" She climbed back out, then squeezed her eyes shut as she sank her teeth into the fish. After chewing a moment and deeming it edible, she too swallowed it down. "You're right! Normally that would have tasted disgusting, but it didn't really taste too bad." She shook herself off. "You're better at fishing though."

Zelgadis just grinned as he prepared to catch another fish.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: As Zelgadis said in the previous chapter, Amelia wasn't done being affected by Dorel's meddling. Mwa ha, because I am messed up like that..._

_Way back when I first plotted this out, I drew a basic drawing of chimera Zelgadis and Amelia. (And EarthstarChan was awesome and drew some fanart for me as well!) I'd love to link it from here, but this site has a way of eating links. Blah... I guess if people want to see it, just leave a review and I'll give you the link in the response. If it gets eaten there, I shall cry!_

_Oh! I might not be able to update next week, so if you see nothing, don't panic. It's finals week at my university, so I shall likewise be busy doing that. After that, I am heading back home! Then life shall be grand, and I will be back to writing and updating again._

Next time: "I can't just leave her out here." Amelia continued walking, making sure the girl didn't fall. "Even if they try to attack me again. I can live better with injury to myself than to know that an innocent life was lost because I chose to do nothing."


	6. Preparation for the unpredictable

"Left! Right! Jump! Duck! Weave!" Amelia raced through the forest, dodging around trees, fallen logs, and the like. She finally came to a halt, took a moment to catch her breath, then called out, "Okay Mister Zelgadis! Your turn!"

Zelgadis scowled at Amelia, but she was too far away to see it. After feeling stupid, he crouched down, then zoomed forward, mimicking Amelia's earlier path through the trees. Not a moment later he stopped alongside her. "Done."

"Wow, you're really fast!" Amelia smiled up at him.

Zelgadis smiled a smug little grin.

"Okay, next..." Amelia looked about for a good place to launch off from, spotting a dead tree nearby. "Follow me!" She then ran to the dead trunk and easily leapt up its side. Quickly climbing to the top, she spread her wings, then launched herself into the air. She flapped her wings to gain more altitude, then spread her wings out to ride the current, circling above. "Come on, Mister Zelgadis!"

"This is stupid." Zelgadis was so thankful no one was around to see him. He jogged to the tree trunk and also leapt, but only got about two feet up the trunk. "I was not made for jumping." He hugged the trunk as he slowly climbed upward, ready to bail off if the tree fell under his weight. Finally reaching the top, he spread his wings and jumped.

He easily floated on the current, but had to flap to keep from losing altitude. He clenched his jaw as he exerted a lot of energy to reach Amelia's altitude. _"She makes this look so easy!"_ After a lot of effort, he finally caught up with Amelia.

"You made it!" Amelia dropped back to fly alongside him. "What do you think?"

"I think," Zelgadis wheezed, "that next time I'm finding a higher vantage point."

Amelia laughed, then caught another current that took her up much higher. "It is easier to fly when you're higher up." She closed her eyes to just take in the sensation of being carried on the wind.

"AAAAHHH!"

Both Zelgadis and Amelia snapped to attention and looked at each other.

"What was that? It sounded almost like..." Amelia looked worriedly at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis nodded his head. "Someone in trouble. It came from down south." He pointed in the direction it came from. Amelia instantly changed direction and flew toward the sound. "Amelia!"

Amelia quickly sped off, intent to aid whoever was in peril. As she flew she heard more cries for help, before seeing a group of...small humanoids? As she got closer, she saw that they were goblins. Goblins that were ganging up on a small girl! Amelia went into a dive and landed roughly on the ground before charging into the group.

The goblins didn't know what hit them. One minute they're attacking a small girl for her food, the next some are flying through the air! Those that weren't sent flying via Amelia were so terrified seeing such a large and deadly animal upon them, they quickly fled.

The small girl was also in shock at the sudden turn of events. She looked up in horror at the giant before her, and made to run away. "Ow!" She looked down to see her leg was broken. Her fate sealed, she fell back to the ground and covered her head with her arms, crying quietly in fear.

Amelia paused to study the girl, easily seeing her leg was broken. Wanting to calm her fears, Amelia scooted away, then lay down on the ground, purring quietly.

The girl heard the purring, and looked up in wonder to see what looked like a very big kitty soaking up the sunshine. She watched the 'cat' for any sudden movement, fearing those giant teeth and sharp claws. When she looked into the cat's face, it looked almost like the cat was...smiling at her? "Are, are you a good k-kitty?"

Amelia slowly nodded her head, purring louder.

The girl smiled, but tears welled up in her eyes. "They hurt my leg and I can't walk. I can't get back home." She began to cry.

Amelia wanted so much to be able to tell her that everything would be all right, but couldn't. Instead she quietly got to her feet and approached the girl. When she didn't get any reaction, she rubbed her head against the girl's hand.

The girl jumped in surprise and looked at Amelia. Feeling comforted by the loud purring of the 'big kitty', she reached out a hand and stroked the cat's giant head. "You are a nice kitty." Her tears dried up as she pet the cat.

Amelia smiled, glad that she was able to calm the girl. If only she could get her back to someone who could help her... She would gladly give the girl a ride back home, but those annoying ridges down her back wouldn't be very comfortable. If only...wait! Amelia stood back up and spread her wings out, then used them to cover her back. She then lay down next to the girl, hoping she would understand.

The girl watched her curiously. "You'll give me a ride?" At the cat's nod, she smiled and carefully moved herself closer to the big cat. She cried out in pain when she climbed up onto the cat's back, but settled in quickly enough. "Mean goblins busted my leg." She sniffled.

Amelia waited until the girl had a firm grip, then got back to her feet. The girl pointed in the direction she needed to go, and Amelia set off.

"Amelia!" Zelgadis burst through the brush.

The girl screamed in fright and huddled against Amelia. Amelia tried to purr comfortingly back to her. "You're scaring her."

Zelgadis huffed, but backed away. "What do you think you're doing? Where are you taking that girl?"

"I'm taking her home. She was hurt by goblins and can't get back herself." Amelia proceeded to walk the way the girl had indicated.

Zelgadis came up alongside her, again causing the girl to cling closer to Amelia. "You're headed to the village again. You don't intend to take her there?"

"I can't just leave her out here." Amelia continued walking, making sure the girl didn't fall. "Even if they try to attack me again. I can live better with injury to myself than to know that an innocent life was lost because I chose to do nothing."

Zelgadis huffed again, but didn't comment. He finally dropped back, not liking to be stared at by the small girl. When she kept watching him anyway, he glared at her. The girl whimpered and hugged Amelia in fright.

The three spent the rest of the walk in silence. When they finally neared the dreaded village, Zelgadis stopped altogether. "I better not let them see me. They might treat you better when she's with you, but they already have good reason to fear me."

Amelia nodded in silent agreement, then approached the entrance of the village. It didn't take long for the locals to take notice, and they again gathered together. Amelia slowed her approach, wanting to get close enough so the girl could be easily reached, but not close enough to again provoke an attack.

"Daddy!" The girl called out and waved. A man in the crowd waved back, but did not approach.

When she was just outside the village, Amelia stopped and crouched down, allowing the girl to slide off. She then backed away, hoping the father would come and collect his daughter.

He did just that, then took her back to the safety of the village. Amelia smiled, and then got hit on the head by a rock.

"Hey! Don't do that!" The girl cried out.

A villager picked up another rock and sent it flying. "We caught that beast in the orchard earlier! If we hadn't scared it off, we'd have had nothing left!" He urged his fellows on.

Amelia retreated back into the forest, to be met by Zelgadis. She could tell by the look he was giving her that he had seen what happened. She gave him a weak smile as she walked past. "Let's just go."

Zelgadis growled back at the village, then followed after her.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: The most amazing thing happened: I left the State 'o Potatoes on time, so I actually got home a lot earlier than I had thought. (How I missed the rain, trees, hills, wildlife, etc...) I thought it unfair to make you all wait another week while I get settled back into my own life, so you get a short chapter._

_As for this chapter, was anyone else amused by the opening? Amelia seems to enjoy her drill sessions, so that first part just happened. I am way too amused by Zelgadis actually going along with it, but then again, without an audience he seems more willing to subject himself to such things. (Just watch the added scene in Slayers Premium when he lets Amelia pull him along, even though he is weakly protesting he doesn't want to go.)_

_The mob of goblins are courtesy of the Slayers novels. I think most here already know I am a Dungeons and Dragons nerd, so when I read about Lina's encounter in the novels with goblins, I was thrilled! You don't need big nasty beasts all the time. There are lesser nasties to wander the forests, and if even Lina Inverse herself knows to avoid them, that's saying something. (I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the novels for those who still haven't read them. You really need to go get them! We can't have the rest of the novels released in English if people don't support them! That will make me very sad since they left off right when things are getting good...)_

_Sorry, ranting again. Back to the story!_

Next time: The man took out his sword and struck a dramatic pose. "I, Sir Lionel de Fracas, having heard of thy terrible deeds, have come to slay thee! Have at you!" He thrust his sword forward and charged.


	7. Some hero!

Amelia yawned and stretched, just having woken up to a new day. "A new, but average day." She glanced over to Zelgadis, who was still sleeping soundly. "It's been weeks already, and still we're stuck here. There's got to be some way to find someone to help us! Someone has got to be out there!"

"Keep it down." Zelgadis grumbled. He then tucked his head underneath his 'hands' before falling back to sleep.

Amelia quietly tiptoed out of their cavern, and to the entrance of the cave. As she appreciated the sunrise, she felt a cold breeze blow past. "Brr!" She had noticed that the leaves were changing color, but she hadn't thought so much about it. Now many of the leaves were resting on the forest floor, leaving many naked trees.

Amelia sniffed the air. "Winter will be coming soon." She shivered again, but more from the thought of the cold. If they didn't find a way out of their predicament, no doubt they'd have to survive out in the elements, without the luxuries being human provided.

She thought quietly to herself as she ambled down to the river. "We'll make it through somehow!" Her mind at ease, Amelia took a moment to quench her thirst.

"Halt, foul beast!"

Amelia jerked to attention, nearly dashing into the river in fright. Not twenty feet behind her stood a man in armor.

The man took out his sword and struck a dramatic pose. "I, Sir Lionel de Fracas, having heard of thy terrible deeds, have come to slay thee! Have at you!" He thrust his sword forward and charged.

Amelia looked at him in surprise, then leapt over him as he approached. She watched in disbelief as he charged straight into the river. The man floundered about for a moment, before being washed downstream.

"I'll not forget this, vile demon!" He choked out as he disappeared from sight.

"He gave up already?" Amelia craned her neck to see if she could spot him climbing from the river, but he was gone. "Oh dear, Mister Zelgadis isn't going to like this."

"Isn't going to like what?"

This time Amelia did charge forward in fright, straight into the river. Thankfully she wasn't weighed down by a suit of armor, and was able to quickly come back to shore.

Zelgadis sat patiently. "What was that about? Do I still frighten you?" He frowned.

"N-no! Not at all!" Amelia shivered. "You just startled me."

Zelgadis' expression returned to its default state as he nodded. "What did you think I wasn't going to like?"

Amelia shook the water off her feet as she stepped to shore. "There was a man just now. He must have been a mercenary or a warrior of some sort. He tried to 'slay' me." Amelia glanced back down the river, making sure he hadn't come back.

Zelgadis sighed in annoyance. "This is the trouble with staying in one place. Word starts to spread, and then do-gooders of all kinds and briberies come after you." He scowled.

Amelia shook her head. "But what can we do? If we leave, we might not find any place like this, and we'll be no closer to bringing that Dorel man to justice!" She dug her claws into the ground just thinking about that evil man.

"We'll just have to fend them off. Most of those types are easy to defeat anyway. We shouldn't have any trouble." Zelgadis grinned.

"Right!" Amelia jumped up eagerly. "They can never defeat us, for we have justice on our side!"

"Not to mention our wits." Zelgadis smiled im mild amusement.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Another somewhat short chapter, I know. I'm building up to something here, and I don't want to reveal too much all at once._

_So now the two get to deal with people coming to kill them. It can't be too long before things really start to get dangerous! This definitely puts a spin on all those old stories about great heroes going out to slay the 'evil' monster..._

_Speaking of which, I have to say this story's progress has been greatly hindered because I am a World of Warcraft addict. I should be finishing the story now that I'm home from school for the summer, but instead I've been playing far too much WoW. And liking it! If anyone else here suffers the same problem I do, I am on the Dethecus server playing a paladin by the name of Relina. Feel free to say "hi"._

Next time: "There's some place up north that's being terrorized by monsters."


	8. Enter the antagonists

"Hey Lina, did you see this?"

"No, what is it, Gourry?"

"There's some place up north that's being terrorized by monsters."

"Really? What kind of place is it?"

"Mmm...a small village."

"Psh! Forget that! Villages don't have the income to offer even decent rewards. Let someone else take that one."

"But Lina, it says here that many have tried, and they've all failed."

"Really. Must be some pretty smart monsters."

"Want to take it?"

"We'll see. I'm not going up there now, it'll be too cold. Maybe when the weather's warmed some."

"Whatever you say, Lina."

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: There, I think many readers' questions have been answered. Excuse me while I cue dramatic music. The next chapter will be much longer, promise!_

Next time: When he heard a wet crackling sound, Zelgadis suddenly realized what a stupid move he had made.


	9. Paying the consequences

Zelgadis gazed down at the frozen river in disgust. The days had been growing shorter, and the temperatures much lower, but he hadn't planned on the river freezing already. With their main source of food gone, he and Amelia would be in dire straits. Zelgadis clawed at the ice, trying to crack it.

The ice would not yield.

"No!" Zelgadis smashed his tail onto the ice, bashing it again and again. Aside from battering his tail, all he did was cause the top layer to slough off. With a shout of frustration, Zelgadis leapt onto the ice, jumping up and down, hoping that his weight would be enough to crack the stubborn ice.

When he heard a wet crackling sound, Zelgadis suddenly realized what a stupid move he had made. Then the ice broke, and he fell through.

If the ice above hadn't been cold enough, now the water below was absolutely frigid! He was caught up in the current, but fought against it, knowing if he couldn't reach the hole in the ice, he would not be able to escape and would drown. Amelia would be left to fend for herself.

"_No!"_ Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Zelgadis surged forward and grabbed onto the edge of the hole, using his burst of strength to haul himself up out of the water. He collapsed onto the frozen surface, sucking in the air like there was no tomorrow. He then forced himself back to solid ground, not risking another chance with the river.

"_I've got to get back. I've got to..."_ Zelgadis was too cold to attempt flight, instead slowly making his way through the sleeping forest back to the cave. As he walked, he could feel the water on him freezing. Soon he was unable to move his wings at all, and he could feel the forming ice on his back. If this kept up, he would freeze to death. Zelgadis shook his head and tried not to think about it. _"I didn't escape drowning only to die now!"_

Finally he could proceed no further, and slowly collapsed to the ground. "Amelia!" He called out, but even his voice was failing him. He cried out all the same, hoping that he had made it close enough to the cave that she would hear him.

Time seemed to crawl to a stop, and still he waited. He became aware of white flecks falling all about him. One rather large one came directly to him, but it wasn't cold like the rest. It warmed him with its presence, and he could feel some strength returning to him, enabling him to get back up on his feet. It urged him on, and after a while his body stopped resisting his need to move, until finally he was allowed to stop.

Zelgadis was aware of even more life-sustaining heat, until he finally fell to sleep.

(Silent Night, Deadly Night...)

Amelia gazed down at her slumbering companion, glad to feel that he had finally warmed up some. She wasn't sure what had happened, but was thankful she had found him in time to help. She shifted a bit, making sure her wing was still covering him as she snuggled in closer to him.

Zelgadis shivered, and unconsciously moved closer to her warmth.

Amelia felt embarrassed to find him snuggling in so close, when he wasn't aware of it. She was glad she could offer him comfort at the same time, so she tried not to worry about how he'd react when he woke up. Instead she focused on hearing what was going on outside. It had started to snow earlier, and even now she could still hear the snow falling.

If this kept up, they might find themselves trapped inside. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she had not had anything to eat. Zelgadis had volunteered to go fishing for breakfast earlier, but had obviously come back empty-handed. Amelia pondered going out into the snow to look for food, but was interrupted by Zelgadis shivering again.

"_No, I can't leave yet. Not until I know he's not in danger."_ Amelia lay her head alongside Zelgadis' and began to purr, hoping the vibration would at least speed up warming him. If anything, it would make him feel safe.

After a while Amelia became aware of the utter silence. She sat up and saw that Zelgadis was still sleeping soundly. Curiosity got the better of her, so she went to the mouth of the cave to investigate. A world of white lay before her. Even in the darkness it was very bright. Now would be a good opportunity to go search for food, before they got caught in another storm.

Amelia went back to Zelgadis, noticing he was shivering again even in the short time she had been away. She couldn't stay here and find food at the same time. She spied her long-forgotten cape laying in the corner, and went to pick it up. She draped it over Zelgadis. Even if it was small, it would provide some warmth. She recalled that Zelgadis' cloak had been in the cave when she first came, and after searching about for a moment, found it and draped it over Zelgadis as well.

"I'll be back soon, Mister Zelgadis."

Amelia then silently left the cave, gradually making her way to the river. It was hard to spot since everything was covered with snow, but eventually she found a spot where ice hadn't formed over the river. She gazed into the water, dismayed when she couldn't see anything in the dark water. She knew better than to venture further in the dark, so the river was out. She would have to find food elsewhere.

She followed her tracks back to the cave, all the while looking for anything not covered by the snow, all the while knowing it would be a miracle if she found anything edible. There was only one other option. She would have to go back to the village, to scavenge for food.

She entered back into the cave, just to make sure nothing had changed with Zelgadis. Content to see him doing well, she left again, making her way through the snow to the village. She was very thankful that it was dark out. The villagers would be sleeping, and so long as she didn't make any noise, she could get in and out with ease.

She snuck as quietly as possible into the village, searching for any place she might find food, even in the garbage bins. Anything was better than starving. She crept up to a pile of garbage and sniffed about. She must have bumped it, because a bag of trash suddenly crashed into the snow, causing a small commotion.

Before she even had a chance to duck into the shadows, Amelia heard a window open. She heard a small gasp and glanced up, seeing a small girl looking at her. No, not a small girl, the young girl she had found injured in the forest.

"Kitty, you're okay!" The small girl whispered. "What are you doing out here? Are you hungry?"

Amelia nodded and whimpered a little. She was getting rather ravenous. She could only imagine how hungry Zelgadis must be.

"Stay right there." The girl closed the window and disappeared from sight. Amelia lay low while she waited. After a matter of minutes, the window opened again, and the girl stuck her head out. She smiled at Amelia, then disappeared again, to be replaced by a large bundle. She pushed it out the window, and it landed in the snow.

Amelia glanced about to make sure no one else came out, then investigated the bundle. Her mouth watered at the smells coming from it.

"Go on, take it. Just don't tell my dad!"

Amelia felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and hefted herself up to the window's ledge so she could nuzzle the girl in thanks. The girl giggled and pet her on the head. Amelia gave her one last look, then dropped back down to the ground. She picked up the bundle in her mouth, purred at her little friend, then disappeared into the darkness.

Amelia dashed back to the cave, overjoyed that due to the kindness of one person, she and Zelgadis would be able to survive somewhat better for a while longer. As she undid the bundle, she noticed the bundle itself was a large quilt. "Oh dear, I can't take this..."

Amelia spread it out, realizing it was big enough to cover Zelgadis much better than their capes ever could. She wrestled over what the right thing was to do. The days were bound to get colder, and while she herself was somewhat protected because of her fur coat (which had been getting thicker, Amelia noticed), Zelgadis had no such protection.

"I can just borrow it! I'll return it as soon as we don't need it anymore." She smiled at Zelgadis, who was still off in dreamland. Taking her cape from him, she spread the quilt over him, then placed all of the foodstuffs in her cape, then she tucked it away in the small gap in the cavern.

As she was moving about, Amelia upset something, which jingled in protest. She glanced down to see she had knocked into the remains of her belt, which her money pouch was still attached to. She studied it for a moment, before a smile spread on her face. Picking it up in her teeth, Amelia made one last trek into the cold...

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Leave it to Zelgadis' desperation to make a foolish mistake... I've not had much real experience with dealing with icy rivers myself, but I've seen and heard enough stories to know it can be very dangerous. (A professor told my class about how his dog fell through the ice one winter, but because it's cold in Idaho so long, they didn't recover the dog's body from the river for 6 weeks. That would have been tragic!) So be smart kids, and steer clear of seemingly frozen bodies of water..._

_Oh, many people have reviewed and pointed out that since it's been a while since Amelia left home that Prince Phil must be beside himself with worry. For the sake of the story, Amelia's only been gone from home for about a month or so. I'm betting her adventures with Lina took her away for much longer, and she has gone questing on her own before, so I don't know if he would be completely concerned yet. Although he would always have to have some worry since she's his daughter and all... Anyway, yes I do realize that she's not written home, but right now she has no way to. It won't be touched on for a while in this fic, but I'm sure it will come up at a later time._

Next time: "What are you thinking about?" Amelia too watched the falling snow.


	10. Back to reality

Zelgadis woke up feeling much warmer (and softer!) than he remembered falling asleep. Something big was resting against him. Something big that was vibrating. Zelgadis woke up more, noticing that Amelia was resting against him, and somewhere along the way he had acquired a blanket. Feeling uncomfortable with the closeness, Zelgadis scooted away, which woke Amelia.

She blinked wearily until her eyes settled on Zelgadis, who was looking back at her. "Good morning!" she yawned.

"Morning." Zelgadis replied. "How long was I asleep?"

"You were asleep for most of yesterday." Amelia sat up. "What happened to you, anyway? I found you nearly frozen."

Zelgadis fidgeted. "I went to the river looking for food, but...I fell through the ice."

Amelia gasped.

"I was able to get back out, but I underestimated just how cold it was outside. I thought I was going to die out there." Zelgadis looked away for a moment, then turned to face Amelia. He looked like he might cry, yet he was smiling. "Thank you for finding me."

Amelia felt like she might cry herself. She wanted to hug him, but that was pretty much impossible at this point. She wanted so badly to find some way to express how much she cared for him, and how lost she would have been if he hadn't made it back alive, but she was too overcome with emotion. Instead she smiled back at him, feeling tears sting her eyes.

After a few awkward moments, Zelgadis sat up and let the quilt slide off his back. He quickly dove back under when he realized how cold it was in the cave. He gazed at Amelia in wonder, who was busying herself over in the corner. "Aren't you cold?"

Amelia shook her head. "No, not really. This coat is more than just decoration." She smiled at him as she brought over a small package of food. "Here."

Zelgadis took the food and eyed it. "Where did you get this?" He shot her a skeptical look. "You didn't...steal it, did you?"

Amelia dropped her food. "No, of course not! Not really, anyway..." She picked her food back up off the ground and began tearing at the packaging to get to the contents inside.

"Amelia?" Zelgadis cast her an unamused look.

Amelia looked up at him and smiled. "Let's just say that no good deed goes unrewarded." She then resumed eating.

Zelgadis thought over this while he consumed his meager meal. When he was finished, he got up, quilt in tow, and walked to the entrance of the cave. Amelia followed soon after. Zelgadis sat in silence, looking at the outside world, and at the new snow that was falling from the sky.

"What are you thinking about?" Amelia too watched the falling snow.

Zelgadis sat in silence a while longer before answering. "I'm not sure what we should do. I can't go out there without fear of freezing, but I don't want to be trapped here." Zelgadis sighed.

Amelia caught a snowflake on her tongue and laughed with glee. "It's not so bad being in here. You could be caught out there with no shelter at all."

Zelgadis nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything.

"Besides, if we need anything, I can go out and get it." Amelia smiled. "I blend right in with the snow."

Zelgadis shook his head. "That's too dangerous. I can't risk your life that way."

Amelia sighed. "Well, in any case, we have shelter and food for now. If we conserve our energy, we ought to make it for a while at least. We can always hope that the weather warms up soon."

Zelgadis didn't reply, still sitting in silence watching the snow fall. _"At this point, hope is all we've got."_

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Argh, busy busy! I almost forgot that it was Friday (a few minutes ago) and that I needed to post up a new chapter. We're having our annual Viking Fest in my corner of the map this week, so I have been working all week. I just barely got home from working and one night of socializing, only to have to work again in the morning..._

_Anyway! People can be happy now because they got to see what happened when Zelgadis woke up. Probably didn't go how people expect, but that's the way it goes. I'm still amazed at how much Zelgadis opens up when he only has Amelia around for company._

_Although you know it's a bad sign when Zelgadis is trying to have positive thoughts to avoid the dire situation..._

Next time: Both leapt up in fright, unsure of what had caused the sound. Was someone else out to get them?

_(The next chapter is a short one, so I'll probably post it up Sunday or Monday. Then it's back to the normal length next Friday.)_


	11. When all hope is lost

Zelgadis and Amelia huddled together to keep warm. It had seemed like forever since the last of their food had run out, and they hadn't been able to find anything else. Already the land had the telltale signs of Spring on the way, but it still seemed like a long way off, especially when there was still snow everywhere.

C-R-R-R-A-C-K!

Both leapt up in fright, unsure of what had caused the sound. Was someone else out to get them? Without a word both cautiously crept to the cave's exit, and peered about. Not seeing anything, Amelia gave a silent nod, returned by a worried look from Zelgadis, as she crept from the cave, then took to the air.

Zelgadis could only watch in anxious silence. After what seemed an eternity, Amelia landed and practically danced up to Zelgadis.

"What is it? What did you see?" Zelgadis asked, trying to make sense of Amelia's suddenly cheery demeanor.

"It was the river!" Amelia practically shouted in her excitement, "the ice has all broken up and is being washed away!"

The dying hope in Zelgadis' heart suddenly blazed back to life, as a smile graced his face. They were going to make it!

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Yes, this was supposed to be updated Sunday, and yes, now Monday is nearly gone, but...my modem died early Sunday morning! It lingered for a time and gave us hope that there was still some life in it, but when I hooked my laptop directly to it to run diagnostics on it, it was very dead. So finally we have a new modem, so I can get caught up again! (Ugh.)_

_And yes, this was a horribly short chapter. When writing this, I decided to forgo the entire winter with Amelia and Zelgadis to keep the story from dragging, so you get this little tidbit. The next chapter will be longer, and more enlightening..._

Next time: _"Soft? Who'd use that to describe something that had attacked them?" _


	12. Truth and lies

"Hey Lina?" Gourry walked next to his constant companion.

Lina glanced up at Gourry. "What is it now, Gourry?"

Gourry scratched his chin casually. "How come we're headed to that village already? Didn't you want to wait?"

Lina smirked. "I was getting bored doing the same ol' same ol'. We could use that challenge about now, especially since no one else has succeeded yet."

Gourry just shrugged and continued to keep pace with Lina. Eventually they found themselves in a small village. Not ones to break tradition, the first place they stopped at was the local eatery.

While placing their orders, Lina pulled the waitress close. "We heard you're having a pest control problem."

The waitress nodded silently. "Yes, for months now we've been terrorized by beasts! Have you come to get rid of them?"

Lina crossed her arms and smiled confidently. "That was the plan. I heard that other would-be heroes were unable to defeat them. Is there something special about these beasts?"

The waitress shook her head. "I don't know, I haven't seen them myself. You'll want to talk to the village leader. He knows all about them."

"Leader?" Lina asked. "Where can we find him?"

"He lives in the big house in the north part of town. Ask for Esgrey." The waitress scribbled down something on her notepad, then tore it off and handed it to Lina. "Good luck." She then walked off to relay the order.

Lina read the address scribbled on the paper, then tucked it into her pocket for safekeeping.

"Say Lina?" Gourry looked questioningly at Lina.

Lina suppressed a sigh. "Yes, Gourry?"

"Since when are we going after pests?"

"Gourry!"

(You know we all love Gourry...)

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Lina settled back from the door, waiting for it to be answered. A moment later the door was opened by a man who stared back.

"Excuse me, Mister...Esgrey, was it? We're here to help you with your pest problem." Lina tried to smile pleasantly.

The man returned the smile, and opened the door wider. "Do come in!" He ushered his two guests inside, seating them around his table. "No one has been able to rid us of those monstrosities. I'll help you any way I can."

"Good." Lina nodded her head. "First off, do you have any idea why they have been undefeated for so long?"

The man, Esgrey, shook his head. "Most that go after them have not come back. Those that do say little about their encounter."

"Hmm..." Lina thought over this for a moment. "That doesn't help much."

"What have they done?" Gourry piped in. "From what I saw, the village looks perfectly normal."

"What haven't they done!" Esgrey pounded his fist on the table. "They terrorize villagers who go out to gather food, they've practically killed off all the fish in our local river, and they've even attacked people!" Esgrey roared, obviously upset.

Lina ducked down slightly in her seat. "Eh he he...I see." She glanced over to Gourry, who also seemed a bit put off by the sudden outburst. "So we don't really know what we're going up against... Do you have a description of the beasts? I'd hate to go and kill off the wrong ones." Lina smiled guiltily.

Esgrey nodded in reply, then turned away from his guests. "Rose! Come out here!"

A small girl poked her head into the room. She looked frightened to death. She got a nod from her father, Esgrey, and quietly hobbled into the room.

Esgrey turned back to Lina and Gourry. "This is my daughter. She was attacked by the monsters, but managed to escape."

Lina gazed down at the girl, a look of sadness and compassion on her face. She got up out of her seat and knelt next to the girl. "We're going to get those monsters for what they've done, but we need to know what they look like. Do you remember?"

The girl nodded. "There were two...one was really big and scary looking, like a dragon. It had lots of big, sharp teeth!" The girl, Rose, shuddered. "It scared me... The other was big and white, like a cat. It was really soft..." Rose could feel her father's gaze on her, and stopped talking.

Lina puzzled over this. _"Soft? Who'd use that to describe something that had attacked them?" _Lina smiled down at the girl, but was drawn to a small furry pink pouch at her waist. "Rose, is it? Where did you get your purse?" Lina tried to sound friendly as she pointed at the object of interest.

Rose didn't meet her gaze, but quietly whispered, "A friend."

"Thank you for your help, Rose." Lina stood up and faced Esgrey. "We'll get rid of those monsters for you, I promise."

Esgrey smiled, looking relieved. "Oh, thank you! We don't have much to offer in reward, I'm afraid..."

Lina shook her finger at him. "That doesn't matter. We'll settle that later." She gestured for Gourry to follow, then the two headed for the door. She nodded once more at Esgrey, then she and Gourry walked out the door.

Gourry jogged up alongside her. "I'm surprised Lina, you passed up a reward."

Lina scowled. "This has just gone from a job to possible revenge. Did you see that girl's purse?"

Gourry nodded. "Yeah, it looked just like the one Amelia always wore."

"Exactly." Lina marched determinedly out of the village. "I hope it's just a coincidence, but Amelia might have fallen victim to those beasts. If so, there's no way we'll leave them alive."

Gourry nodded in silence as he followed.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: I told you they'd be back, and now they're learning some vital information about their foes. And yes people, now you know the name of the little girl. (I'm not exactly sure why I named her Rose. I'll say it's because of my friend and fellow author, nimrosette, who helped me a great deal in writing this by pointing out errors along the way. This story wouldn't be nearly what it is without her input!)_

_So now Lina and Gourry are out for revenge, and Amelia and Zelgadis are none the wiser. This does not bode well..._

Next time: Suddenly they heard a battle cry. Zelgadis turned just in time to see a large man charging straight at him. "Gourry!" He cried in confused surprise. "Amelia, get out of here!"


	13. The Demon Slayers

Zelgadis stared intently into the water, so focused on his prey that he never saw the rogue wave coming. He shook his now soaking wet head and glared at the source of the wave. "Amelia, what are you doing?"

Amelia giggled. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis. It's just so nice out, I couldn't help myself. Besides, we've been fishing all day. Don't you want to do something else?" She bat at the water in boredom.

Zelgadis sighed. "The snow's not even all gone yet, and already you're acting like it's summertime." He shook some more water off and shivered.

Amelia's shoulders sagged slightly. "I'm sorry."

"You already said that." Zelgadis stopped talking and cocked his head to the side.

Amelia watched him in wonder, before she too heard something. She was about to ask Zelgadis what he thought it was, when he dove into her, knocking them both into the river. She quickly broke the surface and looked about in confusion. Zelgadis came up a moment later. "What did you do that for?" Amelia choked.

"Watch out!" Zelgadis dove back under.

Amelia glanced up in time to see a ball of fire flying straight at her. She dove out of the way, barely avoiding the Fire Ball. She swam with the current for as long as she could, before again breaking the surface. She spied Zelgadis on shore, and swam to join him.

"Where did that come from?" Amelia asked as she dragged herself out of the water, shaking the cold water from her fur.

"Someone's found us." Zelgadis jerked his head every which way, trying to spot their opponent.

Suddenly they heard a battle cry. Zelgadis turned just in time to see a large man charging straight at him. "Gourry!" He cried in confused surprise. "Amelia, get out of here!"

Amelia didn't need to be told twice. She took to the air and looked down in horror. If Gourry was here and after them, that could only mean...no! Amelia heard a familiar voice chanting an even more familiar and deadly spell. She spotted Lina Inverse herself on the other river bank, aiming at Zelgadis. "No!" Amelia went into a dive.

Lina was near the end of her spell when she was suddenly tackled from the side. She jerked her head to see she was caught in the arms of...a big cat, just like the little girl had said! Not wanting to fall victim herself, Lina twisted around until she was facing her opponent, then managed to free her dagger from her belt. She stabbed it into the large cat. She smiled somewhat in satisfaction when she heard it yowl in pain, until she found herself falling. She landed in a prickly bush. "ARGH!"

Amelia winced in pain as she watched Lina's predicament. She hadn't meant to drop her, but she hadn't planned on getting stabbed! Thankfully Lina hadn't hit a vital spot. Amelia tried to shake the pain as she flew to Zelgadis, to aide him if she could.

Zelgadis wasn't fairing so well himself. He'd managed to avoid Gourry's deadly blade, but he had no way to parry, so it was only a matter of time before he'd get hit. Zelgadis frantically tried to think of any way to get away, when a loud shout of anger and pain was heard. Gourry paused for only a fraction of a second, but Zelgadis seized that and smashed his tail into the hilt of Gourry's blade, sending it flying from his grasp. Zelgadis grabbed the free sword in his mouth, then fled as fast as he could.

"Hey!" Gourry roared in anger. He grabbed a hold of the offending tail and attempted to stop his fleeing opponent. He was doing pretty well, until he lost traction. But how was that possible? Gourry looked down to see that he was no longer on the ground, but slowly gaining altitude. He yelped in fright, hanging on even tighter for fear of falling.

Amelia came upon her struggling ally, and did what she thought was best. She flew up behind Gourry and gripped him by his arms, trying to pry him off of Zelgadis' tail. Aside from more shouts of fear, Gourry wouldn't let go. "Mister Zelgadis, Mister Gourry's afraid of heights! You need to take him back down!"

Lina struggled to escape her prison, letting out another shout of anger and pain as the sharp thorns dug into her skin. "Gourry! GOURRY! Where are you!" And then, she heard her lost protector. Lina looked up to see the two monsters, with Gourry caught between them. She watched as the first dropped Gourry's sword practically at her feet, and then as Gourry also came to land at her feet. The two then flew off, leaving a dazed Gourry behind.

"Gourry! What do you think you were doing? Get me out of here!" Lina struggled against her poky foes, glaring at Gourry.

Gourry quickly came to his senses. "S-sorry, Lina." He picked up his sword and hacked into the bush, until he could easily free Lina without falling victim himself. "You okay?"

Lina snorted. "They are smarter than I gave them credit for, but I refuse to be beaten like this!" She stamped her feet in anger. "I'LL GET YOU YET!"

(An angry Lina can't be a good thing...)

Zelgadis paced about the small clearing in distress, causing Amelia to sigh. She too was upset to find that she was suddenly prey to her best friend, but what could they do? Once Lina had an idea in her head, it was hard to deter her from it. Amelia winced as pain shot through her arm. While it was true Lina's attack hadn't pierced anything vital, it still hurt like crazy! Amelia tended to the wound under her arm as best she could.

Zelgadis was suddenly aware of the smell of blood. He stopped his pacing and looked to Amelia, gasping when he saw she was the source. "Amelia, what happened?"

Amelia looked at Zelgadis like she had been caught doing something illegal. "It's nothing. I just wasn't careful."

Zelgadis walked slowly up to her, and took a closer look at her injury, before Amelia tried to hide it. "You got hurt when we were caught by surprise, weren't you." Zelgadis stared at her, looking totally serious.

Amelia nodded. "Well, no, not exactly. Miss Lina attacked me when I stopped her from hurting you."

Zelgadis smashed his tail into the ground in anger, and growled.

"It's okay!" Amelia tried to calm him. "It's not deep at all."

"That's not the point." Zelgadis growled. "Now that they've found us, they won't stop until we're dead...or we defeat them." Zelgadis sighed, his anger gone, and hung his head.

Amelia gasped. "Defeat them? We can't! I cannot harm either Miss Lina or Mister Gourry! They're still my friends, even if they don't recognize me. There's got to be some way to get them to understand."

Zelgadis shook his head. "Lina's more likely to kill you before hearing you out. Unless she's yet to tell me, she's not fluent in monster." He scowled.

Amelia set her jaw. "Even so, I won't hurt them. If we attack them, we'll never have any chance of convincing them we're not their enemy!"

Zelgadis sighed. "So what do you plan to do? Run away every time they find us?"

"Yes, if I have to." Amelia nodded her head, the look of determination etched in her features.

Zelgadis was suddenly up on his feet and alert. "Better start then. They're still after us."

Amelia nodded silently and followed after Zelgadis as they took to the air, gaining some distance from their unwanted foes.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: So things are finally coming together, which could lead to death for Amelia and Zelgadis! With Lina all the more wanting to take down her foes, things do not look good at all..._

_Anyway, the comment Zelgadis made about Lina being fluent in monster was inspired by the novels. Although never mentioned in the anime or manga, Lina does know how to speak Goblin. (Which is rather silly to me, a D&D nerd. She must have had a lot of free time!)_

Next time: Lina tapped her chin quietly, before a grin spread across her face. "Come on. They're not coming to us, so it's time to hunt them down."


	14. An inspired observation!

Lina rubbed her hands together eagerly as she watched Gourry place some traps. If the enemy wasn't going to come to them, surely they'd come to the tasty tidbits Gourry was setting out? Lina eyed the food hungrily herself. "Hurry up, Gourry."

Gourry grunted as he set the trigger in place. "Easy for you to say, Lina. If you want this to work right, it has to be done right."

"Relax, Gourry. I understand. What say we go get something to eat while we wait, eh?" Lina nodded excitedly.

Gourry grinned and stood up. "Okay!"

The two hurriedly headed back to town, ready to eat whatever they could find.

They came back a few hours later. Lina dashed about, eager to see if they'd caught anything while they had been away. Her smile quickly turned to a frown. Not a single trap had even been touched.

"What is wrong with those monsters! Don't they know good food when they see it?" Lina crossed her arms and scowled. "It wasn't cheap, either."

"Maybe they don't like people food?" Gourry shrugged. He poked at a trap, just to be sure it was actually set up right. He easily got out of the way when he sprung it. "At least we know the traps work."

Lina grunted. "Doesn't do us much good if they don't fall for them. Time to figure out another plan..."

"What about exploiting a weakness?" Gourry shrugged.

Lina glanced over at Gourry. "What do you mean?"

Gourry touched his forefinger to his chin in thought. "Well, when we attacked them before, they worked together to get away. They also worked together to incapacitate me." Gourry shuddered. "They work well together."

Lina pondered this. "The one did take me out when I was focused on the other...so either we find a way to separate them, or take advantage of them working together." Lina grinned. "I think that'll work! Nice one, Gourry."

Gourry smiled happily.

Lina tapped her chin quietly, before a grin spread across her face. "Come on. They're not coming to us, so it's time to hunt them down."

"Oh!" Gourry suddenly halted in his tracks. "I saw a cave up north."

"Excellent!" Lina clapped her hands together happily. "Lead the way, Gourry!"

(If they only knew, if they only had a clue...)

"Do you see them?" Amelia whispered from her perch in a tree to a large bush down below.

"No," the bush replied. "I think they left." Zelgadis poked his head out of the bush and looked around. "I doubt they'll be gone long, knowing those two."

Amelia slowly climbed down from her perch. "We can't just hide. If anything, that will make Miss Lina more frustrated." Amelia sighed tiredly. Sometimes it was worse knowing your enemies so well.

Zelgadis also came out from his hiding place and sat down on the ground. "What do you suggest we do? We can't just go parading by."

Amelia cringed. "No, definitely not that. But were we going to stay out all night? It's getting cold..."

Zelgadis nodded in agreement. "I don't think we should go back to the cave, if that's what you're implying. Just imagine if Lina were to come along while we were inside."

Amelia shuddered. "It would become a tomb... Still, we should find some place to settle down for the night."

Zelgadis again nodded, and unfurled his wings. Amelia did the same, and the two took to the air. As they flew over the forest, they spied a light within the trees.

"It looks like Miss Lina and Mister Gourry are spending the night outside." Amelia gazed down at the small fire below. She flew closer.

"Amelia!" Zelgadis hissed quietly, but he did not follow.

"I won't let them see me. I just want to make sure they're safe there." Amelia flew in lower and landed a ways from the campsite.

Zelgadis grumbled as he rolled his eyes. "To see if _they're _safe." He silently followed after Amelia, and landed just as she was about to set out on foot. They just gave each other a look, then both proceeded through the trees until they were close enough to hear Lina and Gourry talking.

"I thought you said there was a cave up here." A rather put out Lina sighed.

"There is." Gourry replied. "It's hard to find in the dark though. I'll be able to find it when it's light out again."

Lina yawned. "Well, that's hours from now. You can take first watch. 'Night, Gourry."

"Good night, Lina."

When it grew quiet, Amelia and Zelgadis tried to slink away as silently as possible, before they alerted Gourry.

"They know about the cave!" Zelgadis tried to hide the panic he was feeling.

Amelia gave him a confused look. "If we're not in there, what's the problem?"

"Think, Amelia." Zelgadis tapped his forehead. "What did we leave behind?"

"Well..." Amelia thought a moment. "Aside from some scraps left over from our food, that quilt..." she silently pondered.

"Some of our clothing is in there." Zelgadis sighed.

"Oh yeah!" Amelia beamed, but then she frowned. "Oh no..."

Zelgadis nodded. "If you came across a cave with tattered remains of clothing, what would you think?"

"I'd think that..." Amelia gulped, "...that whoever they belonged to had been killed. What can we do?" Amelia whimpered, obviously scared.

"Even if we were to find some place to hide any evidence, they'd no doubt find it. Why did it have to be Lina and Gourry after us!" Zelgadis paced about in agitation.

Amelia watched him worriedly, her own thoughts turned to all the possible outcomes that could happen in a few hours.

"They can't find the cave."

"What?" Amelia was shaken from her thoughts.

Zelgadis stared back at her. "They can't find the cave. We'll lead them away from it."

"Oh, but..." Amelia fidgeted nervously.

"If they find that cave, we're as good as dead. Do you understand me, Amelia?" Zelgadis' eyes had suddenly turned cold.

Amelia shivered, but nodded. She continued to have uneasy thoughts even after they had settled down for the night.

To Be Continued...

_Author's notes: It's a good thing Lina has Gourry around, else she'd probably resort to more chaotic methods of tracking down their prey. (Say, burn down the forest! Nah, she'd only do that on accident...)_

_Anyway, one of my associates pointed out how Lina is a smokescreen to Gourry (in that she often masks his own methods and ways of thinking so he's often overlooked), and the concept has really stuck with me. How often have we read stories where Lina pulled all the weight, and Gourry was just there for the ride? (Slayers TRY aside...)_

_The idea always bugged me, since Lina would not put up with someone who couldn't do their share of work. She only barely tolerated Naga, and even then Naga often ended up being blown away to far off destinations while Lina tried to make some distance to get away. She definitely doesn't do that with Gourry. (Yes, he gets caught in explosions, but Lina always sticks around to pick him up and continue on their way.)_

_I guess Gourry fans can rejoice, since I'll be using him as he ought to be, as Lina's confidante and traveling companion. Sometimes his ability to point out the obvious does come in handy, as we've already seen. Don't count on that being the last of Gourry's contribution to this story._

Next time: Lina scowled as the rain started to penetrate her clothing. "Go get it, Gourry."


	15. Sacrifice! Plus WoW extra!

Lina woke the next morning to gray skies. Not exactly a nice way to wake up, but preferred to waking up wet. "Gourry, you up?" She called out, not seeing her protector.

"Yeah, I'm up." Gourry called from further out in the trees. He continued to kneel over the tracks he had found. They were long since fresh, but obviously were no older than when he and Lina had bedded down last night.

"What are you doing out there?"

Gourry gave the footprints one last look then stood up, walking back into the clearing he had left Lina in. "Just getting my bearings."

Lina yawned, then hopped up from her makeshift bed. "Are you set to go?"

Gourry nodded as he gathered up his things. "Yeah, come on. I know where to find the cave."

"Good." Lina smirked. "I just hope it doesn't take another day to find it."

Gourry scratched the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly. "It won't. Come on."

The two continued to talk back and forth quietly as Gourry led them through the forest. They finally came to a larger clearing, and just as Gourry had said, a cave. Lina's eyes lit up at the sight.

"All right! This ought to give us some answers." Lina made sure the coast was clear, then walked up to the cave opening. Just as she was about to set foot inside, a loud roar shook the area.

"Lina!" Gourry shouted, and when she turned she saw he was gazing up into the sky.

Lina grinned. "Looks like they finally came to us."

"But Lina, we can't get them if they're up in the air!" Gourry had his sword ready for action, nonetheless.

Lina got an evil grin. "You can't, but I can. Let's say we invite them down here to play!" Lina chanted a spell, then hurled a Fire Ball up into the sky.

The flying monsters evaded easily, but continued to circle overhead. Lina continued to chuck more Fire Balls at them, and they continued to avoid them.

Lina was not deterred. She grinned, then shot off a fast Fire Ball, nearly singing the flying cat monster. She continued to grin as the two broke from circling and started to fly away. "Oh no you don't." She again aimed at the cat monster, and sent another Fire Ball spell flying through the air.

Amelia looked back in time to see the Fire Ball, but knew she'd not be able to avoid it. She braced herself for impact, but it didn't come from the spell. Zelgadis dove straight at her, shoving her out of the way. She screamed in horror as he took the brunt of the spell to his side, and fell out of the air.

"Got one!" Lina leapt up and cheered as the dragon monster fell from the sky, crashing into the trees below. She grinned, feeling a sense of triumph. Now, if things were to go as she had planned, the other would come at her in a rage. Lina watched the cat monster, and even prepared another spell, but she was taken back when it dove after the other.

"Darn it! Come on, Gourry! We can't let them get away!"

Lina and Gourry raced through the forest.

(No, Zelgadis! Why?)

"Mister Zelgadis! Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia scanned the forest below as she tried to find her fallen friend. She heard a crash, and cries of pain just below. She dove to the ground as fast as she could. When she saw Zelgadis lying in a heap, her heart sank.

"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia fought back tears as she approached. One of his wings was badly injured. Possibly useless for good... She also saw that a front leg was broken, as it was bent back in a horribly wrong angle.

Zelgadis cried out in pain again, then set his pained eyes on Amelia. "You've got to get out of here, before..." He shuddered in severe pain, "before they find me."

"No!" Amelia choked back the tears. "If I leave you, they'll kill you!"

Zelgadis let out another cry of agony. "I'm as good as dead already. Please Amelia, flee! I won't have you die because of me." He grew silent, fighting back his own tears.

Amelia shook her head. "I could never leave you. I...I could never forgive myself if I did." Amelia glanced up at the sound of incoming footsteps.

"Amelia, please." Zelgadis practically whimpered. He could only watch as Lina and Gourry got closer.

Amelia again shook her head, then stood resolute between Zelgadis and their incoming foes. "Never. Not again. I'll not lose another..."

Zelgadis closed his eyes to fight the pain. That was one war he could win, knowing full well he'd not be able to convince Amelia to leave him. He opened his eyes when he felt water hit his face. Great, rain was coming. If things could get any worse...

Lina and Gourry stopped when they came upon the scene. Gourry pulled his sword out again, while Lina assessed the situation.

"Careful, Gourry. We've taken one down, it might have been enough to put some fight in this other." Lina glared at the standing monster, daring it to make a move.

No one moved, each watching the other. The rain, slow at first, was starting to fall harder. Zelgadis moaned with pain, which only unsettled Amelia more. She felt ready to break down and cry at the impossibility of the situation.

Lina scowled as the rain started to penetrate her clothing. "Go get it, Gourry."

Gourry nodded, and stepped toward his foe. He kept his sword at the ready, in case it suddenly charged him, but it didn't. Instead it cowered, but did not charge or flee. Gourry studied it a moment, then lowered his sword.

Lina watched in surprise. "Gourry, what are you doing? Get it!"

"I can't, Lina." Gourry shook his head.

"What d'ya mean? It's just standing there!" Lina jumped up and down in frustration.

Gourry sheathed his sword, still watching his opponent. "That's exactly why I can't. What did they ever do to us?"

"Plenty!" Lina huffed. "You heard Mister Esgrey, didn't you?"

Gourry nodded his head. "Yeah, but I don't think he was telling the truth."

Lina huffed in anger, but didn't say anything.

"I didn't see any maimed people, and that little girl...if she had been attacked by these guys, she wouldn't be alive." Gourry never took his gaze from the cat monster, which continued to watch him in silence.

"But..." Lina tried to think of a counter, "But what about all those people that came here to fight? What about them?"

Gourry shook his head. "I don't know, but I didn't see anything to indicate they died up here."

Lina placed her hands on her hips. "So what are you saying, Gourry?"

Gourry turned to look at Lina. "I don't think they mean harm. Never once when we attacked them, did they attack us. They could have had me the other day, and they didn't."

"Yeah, but they dropped me into a prickle bush! You call that harmless?" Lina shook her fist.

"Considering those claws and teeth..." Gourry nodded. "Remember this morning? I found their tracks outside our campsite."

Lina didn't say anything.

"They knew where we were. They could have attacked us and we would have been caught by surprise." Gourry sagged his shoulders a bit.

"...but they didn't." Lina realized what Gourry was getting at, turning to look at the cat monster. "But why?"

The cat monster just looked at her and made a small noise.

Gourry backed up until he was standing next to Lina. "So what'll we do now?"

Lina sighed in frustration. "After that moving speech of yours, I don't think I'll be able to off these guys. I don't care to stand around in the rain all day, either." Lina moved closer to a tree, hoping to get some shelter from the rain.

Gourry watched after her. "Are you...giving up?"

Lina looked at Gourry in disbelief. "Lina Inverse never gives up! She's just taking compassion this time." Lina looked at the two monsters, then to Gourry. "Either way, I'm not getting any drier. C'mon."

The two started to leave the clearing, but were stopped by a pitiful cry. They turned to see the cat monster had started off toward them, and was looking at them sadly as it continued to make an odd crying sound.

"What? What do you want? We're letting you and your friend live, isn't that enough?" Lina attempted another glare, but it was hard looking at such a sad face.

The cat monster nudged its fallen friend, then looked back at them.

"You've got to be kidding me. Don't you know who I am? Lina Inverse does not go around healing random monsters! My reputation is bad enough as is..." Lina grumbled.

The cat monster continued to cry, nudging its friend before again looking at Lina.

Lina sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Lina?" Gourry looked at her as she approached the monsters.

Lina shook her head and looked down at the cat monster. "You are so lucky I'm in a good mood today."

The cat monster started to purr loudly, then stepped aside to let Lina tend to the other.

"You really are pretty smart, aren't you?" Lina asked the cat monster. "Let's just hope your friend feels the same." She then channeled a healing spell to repair the damage done.

Zelgadis opened his eyes when he felt the pain die away, but nearly fell backward when he saw Lina looming over him.

"It's okay, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia purred from nearby.

Zelgadis could only look on in wonder as Lina continued to heal his wounds. Gourry was nearby, keeping watch. Zelgadis looked back to Lina. "Why are you doing this?"

Lina met his gaze. "Hello to you, Fangs."

Zelgadis blinked. "Fangs?"

"She can't understand you." Amelia piped in.

Zelgadis sat in silence until his leg was no longer in pain. He looked at his wing, disgusted to see it was still ruined, but no longer aching. When Lina got up and moved away, Zelgadis got to his feet and studied the pair.

"Happy now?" Lina asked.

Zelgadis nodded, not sure what else to do.

"Good." Lina turned to leave.

"We can't let her leave, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia got to her feet and started after Lina and Gourry. She called out to them.

Zelgadis understood. If the two left now, they might as well kiss any chance of reversing their predicament goodbye. He followed after Amelia, also calling out to the retreating duo.

"Hey, Lina. I think you made some friends." Gourry pointed a thumb back to Amelia and Zelgadis.

"Just what I always wanted." Lina sighed again, but turned around. "What now?" She watched as the two danced about eagerly, trying to urge her to follow. Lina shrugged her shoulders. "The day's been weird enough already, might as well see what happens next. C'mon, Gourry."

Amelia couldn't help but smile as she and Zelgadis led the two toward the cave. When they got to the entrance, Amelia stopped, looking to Lina.

"What?" Lina asked. "You expect me to trust you enough to follow you inside?"

Amelia nodded eagerly, Zelgadis doing the same.

"Okay...but if you try anything, you're dead." Lina cast a Lighting spell, and Gourry drew his sword. They then proceeded in after Amelia and Zelgadis, and into the cave.

When they came into the cavern, Amelia walked over to a pile of clothing, then sat and stared back at Lina. Lina eyed her furry companion, then leaned in closer to get a better look. "These look familiar..." Lina dug through the pile, finally coming across a small blue amulet. She let out a small gasp as she picked it up. "Amelia..."

"Lina! Over here!" Gourry called out.

Lina glanced over to see Gourry holding up a sword. "Is that..?"

Gourry nodded. "It's Zelgadis'."

Lina fought back a wave of sadness, turning her gaze back to her furry companion. "Why did you show me this? Did you...kill my friends?"

Amelia's eyes grew large. No! She shook her head very quickly, then scampered over to the area Gourry was in. She dug out Zelgadis' long forgotten bag, and dragged it back over to Lina.

Lina for her part watched warily. So far they'd not done anything... When the cat monster dropped a bag at her feet, she picked it up and looked through it, coming across a book. Lina looked through it, easily recognizing the handwriting within. She read the last entry, a look of confusion on her face.

"Lina?" Gourry asked. He came over to see what she was looking at. "What is it?"

"They were here." Lina's brain didn't want to admit what she was dreading. "Amelia...and Zelgadis...were.._.are_ here." She slowly looked about the room. Surely this was not the den of two killer monsters, but...

Lina sank to her knees, gazing at the cat monster. "Amelia, what did they do to you two?"

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: Let it be known that while Gourry isn't my favorite character, he is very endearing. He does seem to have the ability to judge character pretty well. And Lina's an okay person too, when she's not trying to be all impressive. (Aw heck, Lina's more than okay, but don't tell the whole world she's secretly a softy!)

The chapter originally was going to go on for longer after Lina made her realization, but whenever I tried to write anything else, it sounded incredibly stupid! So I finally scrapped it, and moved on to the next plot point instead (which you will see later). So yay, the story sounds better to me now!

Next time: "Mister Esgrey!" Lina waved. "We need to talk to you!"

And now, as if this chapter wasn't long enough, Ichiban Victory presents...

**The Slayers if it was in the World of Warcraft**

Lina: Okay guys, you understand what we're doing, right?

Gourry: Yeah, kill off so many monsters. Same thing as usual.

Amelia: Yes, but it's for the good of the people! Justice must be served!

Lina: Okay, at ease, Amelia. Same plan as usual: I'll jump in there, toss a few spells around, Gourry here will pick off the stragglers, and you get to play healer.

Amelia: But I can help too, Miss Lina!

Lina: Yes, you will by keeping us alive. Now, let's go!

Amelia: Aw...

The small group travels deep into the forest where said monsters are reported to be living. Lina's group sneaks in as close as possible before launching their attack.

Gourry: Are you sure this is a good idea, Lina? There's a lot more monsters than we were told!

Amelia: Not to mention we don't even have a full group.

Lina: No problem, guys. My spells will make quick work of them. Fire Ball!

With that, Lina tosses a Fire Ball right in the midst of the monster's camp, alerting the entire group. The monsters respond by attacking the spell caster.

Lead Monster: (Get the spell caster! She does the most damage!)

Lina: Ack! Ow! Hey! Gourry, help me! Amelia, heal me!"

Gourry jumps in and attempts to draw aggro, but the monsters ignore him as they continue to pound on Lina. Amelia in turn starts to cast a healing spell.

Lead Monster: (Oh no you don't! Take out the healer before she completes her spell!)

Monsters: Rar!

Amelia: Eep!

Suddenly finding herself the new target, Amelia loses focus on her spell as she instead attempts to fend off the mob.

Zelgadis: Figures they left without me. Oh, and got themselves into trouble! Now I can make a dramatic entrance!

Zelgadis leaps into the fray, only to watch both Lina and Amelia fall in battle. The monsters, completely ignoring him, instead turn on Gourry next, who doesn't stand a chance against all those monsters. He too, falls. The monsters then turn and glare back at the intruder.

Lead Monster: (There's another!)

Monsters: Rar!

Zelgadis: Uh oh...

Zelgadis goes tearing through the forest as fast as he can, hoping that he can outlast the monsters as they continue to give chase.

Gourry: Great idea, Lina. Now we'll have to resurrect in the middle of their camp and then run for our lives. Again.

Lina: Don't blame me! In our world this would have never happened! Stupid monsters, attacking the person who deals the most damage...

Amelia: Ow, that was really painful. I sure hope Mister Zelgadis can get away.

All three sigh, then release their spirits, preparing to follow Zelgadis' example. Just as soon as they find their corpses...

**The End**

This fun little extra was inspired by my actual gaming experience, and is dedicated to DQBunny. She too now understands the power of WoW over a person's free will... (Here's hoping next time we make it out alive!)


	16. Arguments and agreements

"Esgrey! Mister Esgrey!" Lina pounded hard on the door. "Open up! We need to talk!" She scowled in silence as she waited. When she didn't hear a response she knocked again. "Is anyone home?"

Finally, the door opened a crack. Rose peered at them from the other side. "My dad isn't home, he..." She grew silent when she spied a familiar blanket in Gourry's arms. "You...you..." her voice wavered as her eyes glistened with tears.

"Whoa, wait! What's the matter? Why are you crying?" Lina looked about nervously.

Rose pointed to the quilt in Gourry's arms. "Where did you get that?" She sniffled.

"Do you know who it belongs to?" Gourry asked, holding the quilt out for her.

Rose nodded.

"Great!" Lina smiled. "A friend wanted us to return it, but she couldn't...that is, she didn't say who it belonged to."

"It's mine, but..." Rose grew quiet and looked about for any bystanders. "I gave it to someone."

Lina caught on to why she was being so quiet, and knelt down closer. "Is this the same friend that gave you your cute little pouch?"

Rose nodded.

Lina knelt in closer, and brought her hand to the side of her mouth. "Is this friend of yours big and furry? Like a cat?"

Rose smiled. "Kitty, yeah!" Her eyes bugged out as she cupped her hand over her mouth.

"Don't worry," Lina whispered, "we didn't hurt your friend. She's not the one who hurt you, is she." She glanced back, to make sure no one but Gourry was paying attention.

Rose shook her head. "Kitty saved me...my dad didn't like her though, so he made me lie to you."

Lina's eyes narrowed. "Is that so... Do you know where we can find your dad?"

"He should be home soon." Rose poked her head further out the door to get a better view of the street out front. "He just had to do something."

"Okay, thank you, Rose." Lina smiled at the little girl. "Gourry?"

"Huh?" Gourry jerked back to being alert and looked at Lina. "Oh! Here you go." He handed the quilt to Rose.

"Thanks!" Rose beamed at them, then dashed off.

Gourry looked at the still open door. Lina saw what he was looking at and shrugged. "She's still young."

They closed the door quietly, then sat against the side of the house. Lina gazed at the locals going about their business for a while, before her thoughts and gaze wandered to the clouds in the sky. Gourry snored quietly. Finally, just as Lina was starting to get bored out of her skull, someone called out to them.

Lina and Gourry both were on alert in an instance.

"Mister Esgrey!" Lina waved. "We need to talk to you!"

Esgrey approached them cautiously. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"

Lina crossed her arms. "First, I need you to answer a question for me. Did a girl, say, my height, with dark hair and light clothing come through here anytime a few months back?"

Esgrey became very quiet, and averted his gaze.

"Mister Esgrey?" Lina gave him a questioning look.

"Yes..." Esgrey looked very agitated. "She didn't stay long though. She left and we never saw her again."

"Never?" Lina tapped her foot. "Never as in you never saw her, or never saw her as human again?"

"W-what are you getting at?" Esgrey started to sweat.

Lina shot him an unamused look. "Let's just say this trek we took into the woods was very enlightening. You'll fare better if you tell us the truth."

Gourry nodded in agreement. "She's serious, you know. Lina doesn't like being lied to."

"Lina?" Esgrey looked at Lina in horror. "Surely not _the_ Lina? ...Lina Inverse?"

Lina wasn't sure if she should smile or scowl. "So you've heard of me, eh? If you've heard of me, you must know what I do to those that dare to deceive me." She shot him a particularly frightening glare.

Esgrey fell to his knees, clutching Lina's hands. "Please, don't hurt me! Yes! Yes, I saw her again, but he got to her! We scared her off for fear of angering him!"

"Who's him?" Lina asked in a cool tone.

Esgrey looked about nervously, then leaned in to whisper, "Dorel, the chimera maker. He's a nut that lives north of here. For the most part he leaves us alone, and we've tried to stay out of his affairs."

"Dorel, eh?" Lina fought free of Esgrey's grip so she could tap her chin in thought. "This is just becoming one big fiasco..." Lina shrugged her shoulders as she stepped away from the house. "Let's go, Gourry."

Gourry shot Esgrey a disapproving look before joining Lina.

"Don't think I'm done with you." Lina pointed back at the still scared man. "We'll be back!" Then, just to be dramatic, Lina cast a Ray Wing, grabbed Gourry, then took to the air.

(Meanwhile, outside of town...)

"Wow. They've been gone for ten minutes, without a single explosion. Think everything's all right?" Amelia turned to Zelgadis, who was hiding in the forest just outside of the village with her.

Zelgadis yawned in boredom. "I think if things weren't, we'd be seeing an inferno about now."

Amelia nodded in agreement. "You're right." Amelia settled back on her haunches, her thoughts running rampant. So much had happened so suddenly, she was still trying to sort through it all. Her gaze settled on Zelgadis' damaged wing.

"How are you feeling? I mean, your wing that is..." Amelia trailed off. That came out sounding pretty stupid!

Zelgadis looked at the useless appendage and scowled. "I'll not be using it again, if that's what you were wondering. Not that that's such a bad thing."

Amelia shot him a surprised look. "What do you mean?"

"I don't enjoy flying." Zelgadis shrugged. "Especially when it involves painful crash landings." He winced and lifted his still tender foreleg just thinking about it.

Amelia hung her head slightly. "Sorry..."

Zelgadis shook his head. "Don't be. This is more my fault than yours, anyway." He placed his leg back on the ground, testing how much weight it could bear without pain. "All things considered, a broken leg and useless wing is much better than being caught on the wrong end of Lina's wrath."

"She's not all bad, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia gave him a small smile. "After all, she is trying to help us, and without any reward."

Zelgadis grinned. "Which is saying something."

"Although I wish she'd be more careful with Mister Gourry." Amelia glanced up into the sky.

Zelgadis followed her line of sight, to see the sorceress herself, with her swordsman hanging onto her for dear life. "Those two." He shook his head.

After dumping Gourry unceremoniously onto the ground, Lina settled gently onto the dirt road next to him. "That went pretty well, I'd say. Amelia? Zelgadis? Where'd you get off to?"

Lina jumped in surprise when two large monsters came dashing from out of the forest. "Don't do that!" She blushed in embarassment. _"I know it's them, but it's still a bit of a shock."_

Gourry stood up, dusting himself off. "You okay, Lina?"

"Just fine." She replied. She turned to her puzzled four-legged companions. "Just don't sneak up on me like that!"

Amelia and Zelgadis just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Anyway," Lina stood as tall as she could, "we've got one more place to go. I take it you know plenty about this Dorel character?" Lina looked at Amelia and Zelgadis, who nodded.

Zelgadis began thrashing his tail and growling, but stopped when Amelia purred at him.

"I take it you've got a grudge against that guy. What say we drop in for a visit?" Lina grinned.

"No!" Gourry cringed. He stopped when he felt Lina's confused gaze on him. "Er, I mean, oh..okay?"

Lina arched an eyebrow as she gave Gourry a weird look. "Okay, Gourry..." She turned back to Amelia and Zelgadis. "What do you guys say?"

Zelgadis started to growl again, and Amelia whimpered. After having some small argument with each other, they both looked back to Lina and shook their heads "no".

"No?" Lina looked at them in shock. "Do you want to be stuck like this? Can that guy really be frightening enough to scare you both off?" Lina puzzled over this. She listened in as the two seemed to have another argument with each other. Zelgadis then stepped forward and puffed up his chest as he gazed back at her. Amelia, unsure at first, finally stepped up with Zelgadis. If Lina didn't know any better, the girl looked scared.

"_This'll be an interesting confrontation, to be sure."_

"Lina? Hey, Lina?" Gourry waved his hand in Lina's face. "Are we going?"

"Ack! Gourry!" Lina grabbed his hand and pulled it down and away from her face. "I was just trying to think! Yes, we're going." She stepped into the middle of the road, pointing her hand out dramatically in front of her. "Lead the way, guys!" She cheered.

Amelia and Zelgadis just stopped and stared at her, then back to each other.

Amelia scooted in closer to Zelgadis. "Can you get to Dorel's mansion from the road?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "No, he's a recluse. It took me nearly a week to find his place when I first came here, which is why I had that map."

"What do we do?" Amelia glanced back at Lina, who had her hands on her hips, a confused look on her face. "I doubt Miss Lina will want to travel through the woods."

"Hey! What's the hold up, you two? You can get chatty with each other later!" Lina grumbled.

Zelgadis gave a small sigh. "We'll just have to deal with it. Come on."

He and Amelia stepped up to join Lina and Gourry on the road, then proceeded forward, veering from the main drag, and back into the forest. Lina and Gourry stared after them for a moment, but when they saw that the two were actually going deeper into the woods -not just hiding- they followed after.

They all traveled in silence. After about an hour of walking, Lina did finally demand a halt so that they could eat something. Once Lina was content, they jounrneyed onward. Eventually the mansion came into view.

"At last!" Lina exclaimed. "I thought we'd be stuck out here forever."

Gourry nodded in agreement. "So what do we do now, Lina?"

"What do you think?" Lina winked. "Go in there and demand some answers. Are you two coming?" Lina pointed her question at Zelgadis and Amelia, who were hanging back.

Amelia and Zelgadis stared at each other for a moment, then nodded at each other. They came forward to again join Lina and Gourry.

Lina smiled, then glared at the mansion doors. "Okay, let's go!"

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Gasp! Another confrontation looms! This is another chapter that had a lot of revising. Such as the debating Zelgadis and Amelia had. Originally I jumped to them and wrote out the conversation, but it took the story off in the wrong direction. Plus, it's fun to write some things that leave the reader's imagination to fill in the gap, so there you go. (And beside that, if Lina can't make sense of them, why should you? Although if you really want to know, they were going over the whole point that Dorel could take control of Zelgadis again, which could have very dire results.)_

Next time: "Why, Mino, I'm touched! You got yourself a girlfriend!"


	17. Without you

A loud explosion startled Dorel from his work. He looked up as Servee dashed into the lab in fright.

"Servee? What is it?" Dorel asked.

Servee made wild gestures, pointing all the while out into the main hall. It glanced back into said hallway, before freaking and dashing behind Dorel. Dorel arched a brow in wonder, standing to check out the source of the explosion for himself. He'd not taken one step before someone charged into the room.

"You! Dorel!" A girl shouted. "We need to talk."

Dorel blinked at the girl stupidly, watching as a tall blond young man walked in and stood next to her. He had no idea why he was being intruded upon. Better play innocent... Dorel spread out his opened palms in greeting. "Why, yes, I am Dorel. How can I be of service to you?"

The girl glared. "Word has it you make chimeras." She shot a look at Servee, who was cringing in fear in Dorel's shadow.

Dorel smiled. "Why yes, I do. I'm working on making the perfect servant, you see. I mean no harm."

The girl continued to glare. "No harm? You call experimenting on humans 'no harm'?" She stared at him in silence for a moment, before realizing no one was speaking up with her. She whipped her head around, facing the hall. "Zel! Amelia! Get in here!"

"Miss, your accusations are nothing but false! What ever gave you the idea...that..." Dorel grew silent as a familiar experiment walked into the room, snarling at him all the while. Dorel sputtered, "You-you found Mino! Oh, I was so worried when it ran away!"

"Cut the innocent act." The girl quipped. "You probably thought that you tested out your experimenting on nobodies. You were dead wrong. You should never practice on unwilling humans, especially my friends."

Dorel gulped. "And who are you?"

"Hey, Lina." The young man tapped the girl's shoulder. "I thought you said we were going to get in, fix Zelgadis and Amelia, and leave."

"Gourry!" The girl swatted the offending hand away. "You interrupted my entrance!"

"Lina?" Dorel started to sweat. "Lina Inverse?"

The girl turned back around to face Dorel. "The one and only!"

Dorel grew silent, but then started to laugh. "Oh, at last! I never thought this would happen to me, but fortune has decided to smile on me!"

Lina blinked. "What?"

Dorel pointed at her. "If I catch you, Master Diol will finally appreciate me for my skill!"

"Diol?" Lina's face turned green. "Why can't I get away from you people!"

"Enough talk!" Dorel shouted, as he pulled a lever. Many of the capsules about the room opened.

"Hey...what are you doing?" Lina eyed the capsules nervously, seeing many of them housed unthinkable combinations of lifeforms. Her eyes bugged out when the chimeras all sprang to life.

"Get her!" Dorel shouted, trying to sound dramatic.

The chimeras obeyed their master, rushing at Lina. Lina in turn prepared to shoot off a spell. She lost her focus when an inhuman screech filled her ears.

Dorel leaned forward, seeing that the screech had come from a large cat monster he'd not seen before. It glared at Lina, before moving in to help dispatch the chimeras. "That's not one of mine...is it?" He watched in fascination as Mino also joined in the fray, swatting away any chimera that dared attack the cat monster.

"Why, Mino, I'm touched! You got yourself a girlfriend!" Dorel smiled when Mino stopped to look up and snarl at him. "That must mean that the experiment was a success!" Dorel scratched his chin. "She came out rather cute and unintimidating, however...but I can fix that!" He pulled something from behind him, and flung it at the cat monster.

Amelia, hearing something hurtling toward her, looked up in time to see what looked like a syringe heading straight for her. Before she could react, she felt herself get smashed into the floor. She gasped when she heard Zelgadis roar with pain, the syringe sticking out of his chest. She got to her feet and dashed to his side, biting onto the syringe and pulling it out.

"Mister Zelgadis! Are you all right?" She asked, feeling frantic. A quick glance back showed her that Lina and Gourry were still fighting what was left of the chimeras.

Zelgadis shook his head as he wobbled on his feet. He did not reply, instead falling to the ground as his muscles began to go into spasms. He let out another roar as his muscles began to bulge out, and spikes sprouted all down his back, even onto his wings. Then he began to get larger.

Amelia could only watch in fright as his size doubled. "Mister Zelgadis!"

Dorel watched in silence, making mental notes of what was happening. "Fascinating..."

When his muscles finally ceased twitching, Zelgadis got to his feet. He stared dumbly at Dorel.

Dorel threw his hands in front of himself, as if to shield him from harm, but when nothing happened, he looked back at the bulky chimera. "Mino?"

'Mino' snorted, but did nothing else.

Dorel's fear turned to glee. "I am a genius! The extra dose must have totally overridden any free will he had left!" Dorel smiled at Mino. "Mino! I order you to catch...that!" He pointed at Lina, who had just finished killing off a small chimera.

Zelgadis growled, his eyes glowing a deep red. He turned away from Dorel and stalked toward Lina.

Amelia yelped as she dodged out of Zelgadis' path. She knew she had to act, had to do something! She had seen him the last time he was under Dorel's control. She was powerless to do anything the last time, but now Lina and Gourry were in danger! She dashed ahead of the lumbering brute, then stepped directly in his path. If anything, she could distract him long enough for Lina and Gourry to finish off the rest of the chimera threat.

"Mister Zelgadis, stop! Don't do this!" Amelia shouted, doubting he could hear her, but wishing for it all the same. If nothing else, it helped her feel stronger standing up to him.

Zelgadis stopped in his tracks, his eyes wandering from Lina directly onto Amelia. He growled in warning, but when the obstruction didn't move, he swatted at her with his massive claws.

Amelia easily jumped up and out of the way.

Zelgadis snarled in anger, then lunged at her, trying to crush her in his jaws. He blinked in surprise when his obstructor was suddenly clinging to his face, keeping him from opening his mouth. He shook his head back and forth, trying to shake her off, but she held on tight. He growled again, then tried to claw at her once more.

Amelia again jumped away from his reach, but released her hold on his jaws in the process. She landed back on the ground, never taking an eye off of him, waiting to react to his next move.

Zelgadis swat and bit at her again and again, before another idea came to him. He swatted at her again, but this time when she leapt out of the way, he followed up with a swift swing of his spiked tail. He watched in satisfaction as his tail connected, smashing into her side, and sending her skidding across the floor. He snorted and stomped up to her, ready to finish her off if she tried to get in his way again.

Something struck him as wrong as he approached. He couldn't decide whether it was the fact his foe wasn't moving, or that her eyes were wide, and unseeing. Suddenly he was reliving another time, another place. He could only watch in horror as the girl he loved collapsed in front of him. As he cradled her in his arms, she tried to assure him all the while that she was fine. And then she had died, he dying along with her.

Looking at the lifeless creature in front of him brought back that horrible feeling. Zelgadis staggered, suddenly feeling nausea overtake him. "Amelia!" He collapsed beside her, nudging her with his snout. He felt a small sense of relief when she gave a small gasp. "Amelia, I'm so sorry!" Zelgadis felt like crying when he saw the look of fear in her eyes.

"Amelia..." Zelgadis nudged her gently again, but didn't get a response. He could feel himself dying again, could feel the grief and anger building up, but this time it was his fault. His fault...for having ever come to Dorel for help. Zelgadis snarled as he got back up to his feet, staring down the man. He roared with rage as he charged at Dorel, knocking him to the ground. He placed a foot on the terrified man's chest, as he slowly began to apply pressure.

"Zelgadis! Stop!"

Zelgadis was startled from exacting some sense of revenge, looking up to see Lina and Gourry looking at him in shock. Lina ran up to his side, and shoved his foot off of the scared man.

"Get off of him, you brute! You can't kill him yet!" Lina then picked up Dorel by his shirt as she throttled him.

Zelgadis snorted in disgust, before his attention was drawn by the sound of labored breathing. "Amelia!" He was instantly back at her side. "Amelia, are you okay? Say something to me." He pleaded with her as he knelt down next to her.

Amelia gasped for breath, trying to speak. She was in so much pain...all she could muster were a few squeaks.

Zelgadis could feel his heart breaking. "Amelia, I'm so sorry!" He shook his head. "This should have never happened to you. You don't deserve to be a monster. To be treated as a monster, like I am."

Amelia's eyes started to tear up, as she fought for breath. "Y-you're not...a monster." she gasped.

"But I am a monster!" Zelgadis gnashed his teeth. "When I was changed, all I could think to do was to lash out, to cause people to fear me as the monster I am. You never did. You never acted anything like a monster." Zelgadis hung his head as he turned away.

"You're wrong." Amelia spoke, finally having regained some strength. When Zelgadis turned to face her she continued, "You're not a monster. A monster is heartless and unfeeling." Amelia met his gaze. "You're not a monster, Mister Zelgadis. A monster wouldn't have stopped."

Zelgadis could only shake his head. "I nearly didn't." He looked down at her, trying to find any sign of damage from his attack on her, but couldn't see anything. This puzzled him.

Amelia draped her wing closer to her side, to avoid his prying eyes. "But you did. You stopped attacking me, by your own free will. Don't you see? You are not, and never have been a monster." Amelia was silent a moment as she sucked in more breath. "Even after everything you were put through, you never lost your humanity." Amelia locked gazes with Zelgadis. "Even now, you're still human, Mister Zelgadis."

Zelgadis couldn't help but snort in annoyance. "If I'm still human, I'm the biggest freak there is." He rustled his wings, as if to prove a point.

Amelia started to cry quietly. "You still don't understand. It's not what you look like that makes you human, it's your true self. Your inner self. Look at me! I look nothing like a human, yet you still say I'm not a monster. Why, Mister Zelgadis? How can you say that?"

Zelgadis choked, feeling heat in his face when he tried to come up with a response. "You're...you are kind, and good. You treat everyone well, even those that did you harm.."

Amelia smiled slightly. "What makes you any different?"

Zelgadis hung his head. "How can you ask that? I've done horrible things, Amelia. I've killed people. I've attacked loved ones...I was a monster even before all this."

"No!" Amelia shook her head, fresh tears streaming down her face. She coughed from her outburst, trying to regain her breath. "That wasn't you. Not the real you. I know the real Zelgadis." Amelia again locked eyes with him. "the real Zelgadis is gentle, and kind. You may be a bit stubborn at times, but you were always good to me."

Zelgadis stayed silent, not wanting to cross her, instead nodding his head slowly.

"Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia rasped, her voice growing quiet. "Promise me you'll never forget that."

"Promise?" Zelgadis jerked his head up. She was sounding like she wouldn't be around to witness it. Zelgadis stared down at her, wanting to ask what she meant, but she had rested her head back on the ground. Even as she did this, Zelgadis could hear her labored breathing, and something more. There was an odd gurgling sound coming from nearby.

Zelgadis looked at her side again, feeling his heart leap when he saw her wing was soaked with blood. "No, Amelia!" Zelgadis silently screamed as he lifted the wing to inspect the underside. He felt his blood freeze when he saw the large punctures in her side, one oozing out foaming pink blood.

Unsure what else to do, Zelgadis pressed his palm against the wound, hoping that if anything he could slow the bleeding. "Hang on, Amelia." Zelgadis nearly whispered, seeing she was already beginning to show signs of severe shock.

"I'm...fine..." she rasped, but already her vision was dimming.

"Why am I always so helpless!" Zelgadis cried out in frustration. "Just hang on, Amelia." Zelgadis nudged her head with his snout. When she didn't respond, he nudged her harder, as panic started to set in. "Amelia! Amelia!"

He was suddenly knocked off balance, his sore arm aching anew. Zelgadis looked down to see Lina glaring at him.

"Get off of her! Can't you see you're freaking her out! Shoo!" Lina stomped her foot loudly, as if she were trying to spook him. Zelgadis backed away in shame, but continued to watch.

Lina knelt down and gently stroked Amelia's head, all too aware of her labored and fading breathing. "Amelia, calm down. You're alright. Just focus on breathing." Lina's gentle administrations were silenced when she felt warm breath down her neck. "Darn it, Zelgadis!" Lina whirled around, "Go look intimidating over there!"

Lina pointed to where Gourry was standing with an incapacitated Dorel. Zelgadis silently slunk off, but did growl menacingly at Dorel.

"That guy." Lina rolled her eyes. She studied the gaping wound, feeling a bit panicked herself. "This is going to be a tough one." Lina shook her head. "I _really_ wish I was better at this!"

Zelgadis and Gourry both watched in silence. Zelgadis craned his neck forward when he saw a white glow gather around Lina. _"Please let it work..." _Zelgadis watched as Lina slowly healed Amelia's injuries.

Lina quietly concentrated on the spell, willing Amelia's damaged lung to heal, and to repair the other wounds as well. Finally Lina was spent, and released the spell. She fell back onto her rear wearily. She fought back a small laugh when she felt a gaze on her.

"You can stop looking so scared, Zel. Amelia's too strong-willed to die that easy." Lina turned and gave Zelgadis a tired wink. "I just wish I could take a nap..." Lina collapsed onto her back, staring tiredly at the ceiling.

Gourry and Zelgadis shared a look with each other, then after making sure Dorel couldn't do any more harm, moved over to peer down at Lina. "You okay, Lina?" Gourry asked.

Lina's gaze gradually rested on Gourry. "Never better." She yawned. "Just give me a moment."

Gourry knelt down, smiling at Lina. "You did good, Lina."

Lina smiled back up at him, flashing a victory sign. "'Course. I'm Lina Inverse!" She stretched once, then shut her eyes.

Zelgadis stepped past the two, content to leave them happy in each other's presence. Lina seemed to think all was well, but he had to make sure. He quietly moved back to Amelia's side, nudging her wing aside. He felt instantly better when he saw no visible signs of her previous injury.

"Mister Zelgadis?"

It had been nothing more than a whisper, but Zelgadis jumped as if someone had shouted at him.

"I'm sorry." Amelia gave a silent little laugh, looking up at her frightened companion from her place on the floor.

Zelgadis settled down and knelt down close to her. He didn't speak a word. Instead he nuzzled her affectionately.

Amelia looked up at him in shock, but quickly saw it for what it was. She gently nuzzled him in return.

"Wow, something happened while we were away! I don't know, Gourry. Think we should give them some time alone?" Lina grinned at Amelia and Zelgadis.

Gourry also opted not to say anything, instead smiling warmly at the two. He placed a hand on Lina's shoulder, causing her to look up at him in surprise, before blushing herself.

"A-anyway." Lina stammered, "we need to fix this. Dorel, if you know what's good for you, you'll cooperate."

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: At last! It's taken a few stories, and a few years, but I finally was able to get Amelia to say what I have wanted her to say from the beginning! Zelgadis' character has always bothered me in fanfiction because he's way too obsessed with finding his cure that he can't seem to think of much else. Yes, he was certainly driven in the anime, but even then he could stop to take some time to help his friends out when needed. (And heck, in the novels he's even less rigid/anal than he seems in the anime. ...you people really just need to go read the novels!)_

_Anyway, given Zelgadis' past that was hinted at here (back in the days when he worked for Rezo, and did do many horrible things like kill people), I've always been impressed that a 'do-gooder' like Amelia would accept him, or even have affection for him since he obviously has a bad reputation. Actually, something that always inspired my writings was a small excerpt from one of the Slayers anime film books. In the back they had character interviews with the cast (among other things, revealing blood types, and in the case of the girls, their "three sizes"). Amelia was asked about her thoughts on Zelgadis, to which she replied knowing that he had been bad in the past, but that now (remember, her words) he was fighting for justice. In short, she knew about his past, but she could look past all that to see the good in him. If only more people were like that..._

_Also, this chapter had a major revision! When I was originally writing this (well over a year ago) I was also reading the newly released novels. In one Lina was talking about different healing spells, and at one point mentioned Resurrection. When I first read it, I was under the misconception that Lina was saying that she could cast the spell herself. Then Nimrosette smacked me upside the head to tell me I had read wrong, which, when I double-checked, I had. Anyway, so I originally wrote Lina casting Resurrection on Amelia here, but thanks to someone who didn't fear giving me constructive criticism, I was able to avert a major disaster. _

_...although I don't really like that part of the story now..._

_So! Constructive criticism is good! Never ever be afraid of pointing out glaring errors to people._

Next time: Zelgadis sighed. Usually at times like this he was able to be a part of the conversation, not a silent listener.


	18. Talking shop

"Okay, so how do we do this?"

"Filter the blood?"

"Ick, too messy."

"Kill off the unwanted parts?"

"No idea how to do that."

"Hmm..."

Zelgadis shook his head. Lina and Dorel had been off in a corner of the room for who knows how long now, debating about the best way of undoing what Dorel had done. He glanced over to Gourry, who was propped up against a wall and snoring quietly. Gourry never was good with following such talking. Zelgadis attempted to shift to a more comfortable position on the ground, but then remembered that he was currently being used as a pillow of sorts.

He settled back into his seated position, being careful not to move the leg Amelia was currently resting against. She had been exhausted after Lina healed her, the monotony of listening to Lina and Dorel also sending her swiftly to sleep.

Zelgadis sighed. Usually at times like this he was able to be a part of the conversation, not a silent listener. Although he'd not be much help at the moment since no one but Amelia could understand him.

"That's all well and good, but how do we do this? I don't think those capsules of yours are big enough for my buddy there to fit in." Lina pointed back at Zelgadis, who snorted in return. He watched as Dorel turned to study him, before turning back to continue the debate with Lina.

Zelgadis shook his head. At this rate they'd be stuck listening to Lina and Dorel for weeks. There had to be something that...wait! Zelgadis suddenly recalled the small syringe Dorel had stuck in him. He wasn't sure exactly what had been in it, but it might be good to bring to their attention. Zelgadis looked on the floor for where he had last seen it, noticing it was within arm's reach. He stretched out his free arm to pick it up, fumbling a bit since it was now a lot smaller to him. He eyed it a moment before calling out to Lina and Dorel, but got no response.

He fumed in silence, intent to walk over to them and interrupt, but Amelia was still sleeping soundly, her weight heavy on his foot. If he moved he knew he would wake her. Zelgadis contemplated just throwing it in frustration when Gourry suddenly gave a start before falling back to sleep.

Gourry!

Zelgadis called out to him, but again got no response. He'd not be able to reach him with his arm since Amelia was resting against the arm closer to Gourry... Zelgadis tapped his tail against the floor, somewhat flustered. The 'clack' 'clack' 'clack' of his tail against the stone floor suddenly caused a grin to come to his face. Although he couldn't reach Gourry with his arm, his tail was more than perfect for the job! Zelgadis swung it around and prodded Gourry with the tip, nearly causing the sleeping swordsman to fall over.

"Huh, wha?" Gourry asked as he woke up more, seeing Zelgadis staring intently at him. He was about to ask what was going on when Zelgadis held a hand out, Gourry automatically reaching out to take what was being held. He looked at the syringe Zelgadis dropped into his hand. "What's this for?"

Zelgadis made a rumbling sound, then pointed to Lina. He looked down at Amelia before meeting Gourry's gaze again. Gourry in turn nodded in understanding, then walked off to interrupt the little pow wow.

"...so you think the blood thing might be our best bet? I'm not sure how Amelia will feel about that, but..."

"...well, it's all just theory, but at this point it seems-"

"Hey, Lina?" Gourry interrupted, looking none too sorry.

Lina jerked up from her seat and looked up at Gourry. "What is it?" She was a bit irked at being interrupted.

"Oh, uh, Zelgadis wanted me to give you this." Gourry then placed the syringe on the table and scooted away before he ate any punishment from Lina.

Lina completely forgot about the interruption, quirking a brow at the new thing to query over. "What's this?" She looked up at Dorel.

"Oh, this..?" Dorel seemed a bit shaken, but he reached out to pick up the syringe. He gulped, but knew he better not keep any secrets at a time like this. He'd rather keep his life! "This," Dorel swallowed, "this was an experiment. I already told you that I usually create my chimeras in those capsules, then I inject the fluids around them with my concoctions. I theorized that the test subjects absorbed the concoction through their skin. Thing is, that's time consuming. I thought that if I stuck my concoctions directly into them that there'd be a more dramatic result." Dorel glanced over at Zelgadis, but shied away at a loud growl. "He wasn't my intended target, but Mino, er, your friend proved my thinking to be true."

"Stuck it right in him, huh?" Lina rubbed her chin in thought. "Just what's in this 'concoction' of yours?"

Dorel fidgeted. "Ah, well, the special properties of a creature. What makes a cat a cat, or a dog a dog. I take that and mesh it with other animals and monsters and see what comes of it."

"Hmm..." Lina tapped her finger on the table. "So what you're saying is that these 'special properties' you tagged my friends with took over their bodies, which is why they are no longer human. Am I correct?"

Dorel nodded his head.

"Is there any way to reverse that? Say, if we target the invading 'special properties' and kill them off, leaving only the human part behind. Would that work?" Lina looked hard at Dorel.

Dorel thought this over a moment, muttering quietly to himself. "I don't see why not, but that's going to take some work. I've never tried to unmake a chimera before."

"There's a first time for everything," Lina replied. "You better do it as well, otherwise I'll make sure you never get to experiment with anything or any_one_ else again."

"Y-yes, Miss Inverse!"

Lina inwardly grinned. These people were always such pushovers!

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: I know, I know, it's been well over two months since I updated, and this is a rather short chapter to boot. All I have to say is, this past summer was crazy. I was working full-time again, dealing with coworkers who didn't want to listen to me (stress, yay), had a lot of family things come up (most fun), and then just a few weeks ago my grandmother finally passed on after a long illness. So maybe you can see why I haven't been updating.

Oh, and trying to get back to school...that was fun. Thankfully I am back in school, I can afford to be back in school, I am at peace with my grandmother's passing, so now it's just getting back into the swing of things. I really do hope to have more of this up soon, but if not, please forgive me. Much as I love writing these characters, real life has a tendency to drain the creativity out of me.

Now then...

As to the chapter itself, the whole dialogue between Lina and Dorel was inspired by my Biology (practically Chemistry!) class I took last semester. The teacher got really in-depth about genes and DNA, which got the gears turning. Originally it inspired me to do something a bit more extreme, but then I thought better of it. So you only get it in discussion. (This stuff really does fascinate me, and although I know it's not ethical, I have to wonder if it is possible to alter DNA to give something traits that are usually dormant.)

Next time: A battle to the death, and why it's bad to let Lina get a swelled head. Hopefully I'll have it written soon so it can be seen...


	19. A game of chance

Gourry wiped his brow as he studied his opponent. They had been battling for who knows how long now, and he knew he wouldn't last much longer. It was time to end this. He drew his weapon and prepared to engage with the enemy one last time.

He advanced quickly, not allowing his opponent time to do more than react. He would thrust, the other barely keeping up. Gourry threw in a few fakes to keep his opponent guessing what his next move would be, not wanting to lose this battle.

Finally, Gourry held his weapon out in a declaration of victory, then with a mighty "Ha!", delivered the killing blow!

"Tic-tac-toe, three in a row! I win again!" Gourry smiled as he drew a line through the winning row, his opponent looking down in shock. "So, want to play again?"

Zelgadis looked at the game in disbelief, wondering for the umpteenth time how Gourry was so good at this! He glanced over at the score Amelia had been keeping on the wall nearby: to his credit Zelgadis had tied against Gourry a few times, but the majority of the games went to Gourry. Zelgadis hadn't won a single game! He grunted and tossed his piece of charcoal onto the ground, admitting defeat.

Gourry frowned, having been enjoying himself. "Aw, come on, Zelgadis. Just one more game? I'll go easy on you if you like."

Zelgadis shook his head no, trying not to look into those pleading eyes. If he didn't know any better, Gourry was enjoying this a tad too much. It would be much better to have to sit and listen to Amelia gush about love and justice at this point, Zelgadis reasoned with himself.

Come to think of it, Amelia had been awful quiet. Zelgadis lifted his head and looked about the room. She had been sitting by the wall earlier to keep track of their score, although one glance at all of the completed games doodled on the floor told Zelgadis she'd stopped keeping score long ago. So where did she get off to?

Zelgadis noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, diverting his attention. Then he saw her. Tucked back in the far corner, near the capsules that had held Dorel's twisted creations before, Amelia was quietly sleeping, her ear twitching every now and again. That had been the movement he had noticed.

"We can play Hangman if you like," Gourry's voice cut back in.

Zelgadis sighed. Oh well, it would help pass the time. Sooner or later, whether it was minutes, hours, days, Zelgadis really had no idea just how long it had been since Lina and Dorel locked themselves away, Lina and Dorel would return, and hopefully this would all be over. Zelgadis picked up his piece of charcoal.

"All right, that's more like it." Gourry smiled happily. "Do you want to go first?"

Zelgadis nodded. He had just the thing in mind to stump Gourry. That would teach him for showing Zelgadis up in Tic-Tac-Toe... Zelgadis began to draw on the floor.

"We did it!" The door flew open, banging against the wall.

Gourry jerked up, Zelgadis' charcoal flew across the floor ruining his drawing, and Amelia leapt to her feet. All three looked in shock at the doorway.

Lina laughed nervously. "Sorry about that, guys. Been waiting long?" She coughed. "Anyway, this is it! We've got it for sure this time!" She held a small syringe in her hand.

Gourry blinked. "What is that?" Whatever Lina was waving around, he didn't want anything to do with it. If it was anything like her cooking...

Lina gave a wink and a grin as she held up the syringe casually. "This, dear Gourry, is my genius at work."

"And a genius you are, Miss Inverse!" Dorel gushed from behind. "Why, if I had known, I would have asked you to be my assistant ages ago! Master Diol was insane to want to make you into one of his creations."

"Glad you see things my way," Lina muttered. "Anyway, we need to find out if this is going to work. I mean, of course it'll work since I helped make it! ...we're just not exactly sure what it'll do." Lina laughed nervously.

Zelgadis and Amelia looked downright terrified. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea...

"What's it supposed to do, exactly?" Gourry scratched his head, still unclear how a tiny vial would do any good.

"I already explained to Miss Inverse how I make chimeras by combining the various essences of creatures together," Dorel replied.

"Yeah," Lina nodded, "so we worked on that principle, but reversed it."

"Uh..." Gourry looked lost.

Lina sighed. "Don't even ask. What I mean is, instead of attacking the host essence with something new to overpower and take over, this will draw out the offending essence, leaving the original intact."

"Umm..." Gourry looked like he was facing down a rampaging dragon.

Lina sighed, putting her free hand to her face to collect herself for a moment. "Right, right, I keep forgetting. Simple terms for Gourry!" She coughed into her fist. "I made pretty magic to suck out the bad stuff."

"Oh, I get it!" Gourry beamed. "That's great! So that'll make Zelgadis and Amelia look normal again, right?"

"Right," Lina nodded. "So, are you guys ready for this?" Lina turned to look at the people in question, her grin fading when she saw them cringing in a far corner. "Hey! I worked really hard on this! Are you saying you don't trust me?" Lina scowled.

Zelgadis and Amelia couldn't help but whimper as they looked at each other, hoping the other could make the situation seem better. "This is Miss Lina we're talking about here," Amelia whispered, "She is really good with magic, so it should be okay. ...right?"

Zelgadis shot a nervous glance back at Lina. "True, but this is also Lina, who is more likely to cause mass mayhem."

"What are you saying, Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia shot a concerned look in Lina's direction.

Zelgadis gave a nervous cough. "I think I'd rather she test that on something else before we volunteer ourselves. Just to be on the safe side."

"Oh, I see. Unfortunately, we killed off all of Mister Dorel's chimeras, remember? What are we supposed to use? It would be wrong to make him create something else, just to test Miss Lina's concoction on it." Amelia frowned.

Zelgadis scanned the room before seeing a telltale tail poking out from behind Dorel's robes. "Not quite." With a grin he snuck up to Dorel, scaring the living daylights out of the man, before pouncing behind him.

Dorel gasped. "What are you doing with Servee?" He looked like he would cry seeing his little servant dangling helplessly from Zelgadis' claws.

Zelgadis growled quietly, then pointed from Lina to Servee. The little animal struggled for its life, but Zelgadis had too strong a grip.

Lina quirked an eyebrow. "What, are you saying you want me to test this out on that thing?" At Zelgadis' nod she scowled. "You don't trust me?"

"I-it wouldn't work, anyway. Servee's not made like you were," Dorel pleaded, "he was an original creation of mine. Please, don't do anything to him!"

Zelgadis shot a glare at Dorel. Make this complicated, why don't you... He looked at the pathetic creature in his hand before tossing it at Dorel, getting some sense of satisfaction watching the two cling to each other. A tsk from Amelia's direction quickly brought him back down. Zelgadis instead opted to tap his claws against the floor.

"Come on, Zel, this is not the time to be picky! Didn't you want to do anything to cure yourself? I mean, you would have even worked for Shabranigdo." Lina glared. "This won't kill you, I promise! Stop being a baby."

Zelgadis bit his tongue, trying very hard not to meet Amelia's gaze. He was already getting bad vibes from what must have been a new revelation to her. Leave it to Lina to dredge up his less than stellar past... He sat back on his haunches and folded his arms. "Fine!"

Lina had no idea what the snarl meant, but seeing Zelgadis wasn't making any new moves, that had to be a good sign. "That's better. Honestly, Zel, sometimes I don't know why I put up with you. Are you ready for this?"

Amelia quietly walked up beside Zelgadis. "Are you sure you want to do this first? If something happens-"

"I'd rather it happened to me." Zelgadis snapped, but looked ashamed when he saw Amelia frown. "Sorry, Amelia, Lina put me into a bit of a mood. You've been through enough today. If anything happens, I don't want to see you hurt," Zelgadis coughed, "again."

Amelia gave a small nod, then backed away. "Hope for the best, and everything will work out."

Zelgadis gave a small smile, then looked down at Lina. "Only one way to find out for sure..."

Zelgadis settled back down to the ground, then offered up his arm as sacrifice.

Lina suddenly looked very unsure of herself as she realized the situation. She gulped. "Okay, here goes. This might hurt a little..." She couldn't help but close her eyes as she jabbed the needle into Zelgadis' arm.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Yes, I am awful! I left it on a cliffhanger! (You can send hate me if you like. You know how to reach me.)_

_Truth be told, I know what's going to happen next, I just haven't geared myself up for writing it yet. I'm also not quite sure when this story will end, but I've a feeling it will be soon. I doubt it'll end in the next chapter, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and not make this chapter too huge._

_As to the chapter itself, am I the only one who thinks Gourry would be really good at tactics games? One day the idea of Gourry playing a simple game of Tic-Tac-Toe the way he fights in combat just struck me as hilarious, so I had to work it in. And as much as we all like to think Zelgadis the smarter of the two, Gourry still bests him with a blade. (Heck, in the manga and novels Gourry nearly takes a chunk out of Zelgadis when they are fighting against each other.)_

_Of course, then I had to introduce Lina back into the mix, and she instantly drags Gourry back down. Ah well. Just to cover my bases, when she says "dear Gourry" she's not being sappy or anything. Not that she's being condescending, either. It just struck me as something she'd say when trying to show off her skills, and since she does talk to Gourry often...erm, yeah, I'll just stop before I dig myself deeper. (I usually see people use 'dear ' when they are very familiar with the person, be it friendship or otherwise, so there you go. And no, not in the way Sylphiel addresses Gourry in the dub. Blah.)_

Next time: Is...a secret! Will Lina truly be as skilled as she claims, or will this turn out to be a flop?


	20. For the better?

Zelgadis winced as he felt the needle pierce his skin, trying not to think about the liquid being forced under. _"Just let this work. For once, let Lina know what she's doing..."_ Zelgadis held his breath, waiting for the inevitable...but nothing happened. He opened an eye he hadn't been aware of shutting and blinked in confusion. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, he felt a great pain in his arm. It spread down his arm and eventually throughout his body, the pain so great he collapsed onto his side, crying out in agony.

Everyone gasped in shock, backing away as Zelgadis began to thrash about.

"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia quickly leapt to his side. She looked down at his pained face, waiting for some type of response, but all Zelgadis could do was look at her, too overtaken with the pain to speak. She wanted to do something to lend him strength, but any time she touched him, Zelgadis cried out in even more pain. Amelia finally resigned herself to sitting nearby, feeling completely useless as she watched in alarm.

Everyone else did the same, not sure what else there was they could do. Lina leaned into Gourry, silently pleading and praying to whoever would listen that she had done the right thing. Dorel watched in fascination; he had never seen anyone undo a chimera before, so he was eager to take notes!

After a few agonizing moments there was a visible change in Zelgadis. He was slowly becoming smaller, and if one looked at him just right, the spiky ridges all down his back were receding back into his skin. Then Zelgadis did something unexpected. He rolled onto his stomach, then spit out a vile green liquid from his mouth. Everyone watched in disgust as he continued to cough out more of the nasty stuff.

"What is that?" Gourry wrinkled his nose.

Dorel lit up, furiously scribbling in a note pad. "Of course! It makes perfect sense!"

"What does?" Lina asked, pointing at the mess Zelgadis was making on the floor. "That?"

Dorel nodded his head. "I told you I injected various essences into him before. What you came up with is counteracting that, but what I originally injected in him cannot remain inside if he's to regain his original form, so his body is rejecting, or ejecting if you will, the unwanted essence." Dorel scribbled a bit more on his notepad. "It's all rather interesting, really."

"What it is is disgusting," Lina also wrinkled her nose. "Why couldn't I have come up with a clean and simple fix?"

Amelia was only just listening to the conversation. She was noticing something rather drastic happening, but she wasn't sure if her eyes had gone screwy (for all she knew she could be colorblind now), or if Zelgadis was in fact losing his familiar blue hue. Already his tail and wings had receded back in, and he was taking on a more human shape. But what she had been noticing was that as his scales became smaller and also started to disappear, a normal flesh tone was hidden underneath. Come to think of it, the rocky ridges she had become accustomed to being on his face were...gone!

Amelia gasped.

Lina looked up from her conversation with the others to see Amelia...bouncing? Lina quirked her brow, until she saw what had Amelia so excited. "I really _am_ a genius!" Lina breathed.

"Huh?" Both Dorel and Gourry replied, then gaped when they saw a rather human male laying on the ground.

"A-are you sure this was the same person who came to me?" Dorel sounded very confused. "The one I, er, experimented on didn't look like that."

Lina didn't reply, instead watching the scene playing out before her.

Zelgadis groaned, still a bit woozy from his ordeal. As his eyes came into focus, he saw a big furry face peering down at him. It chirruped at him, then nudged his side. Zelgadis let out another groan, bringing an arm up to rub his eye. The big furry thing chirruped at him again. Zelgadis shook his head in an attempt to clear it, pain still fresh on his mind.

Amelia frowned at Zelgadis' lack of response. "Mister Zelgadis, look at yourself!" She nudged his arm again, trying to prod it into his line of sight.

Zelgadis, to his credit, did attempt to say something, but it was so garbled no one knew what he was trying to say. He shook his head again, still rubbing at his eye. He suddenly stopped, as if a thought had occurred to him, then slowly held his hand out in front of his face. He peered at his hand in curiosity. Something didn't seem quite right...

He glanced over at the large animal sitting next to him, noting it had rather large claws. He again looked to his hand, wondering why he wasn't seeing the same. Again to the large animal, this time noting the large fangs jutting out below its jaw line. Zelgadis reached out to touch where his should have been, smacking his hand into his face instead. What was going on?

The creature chirruped at him again. Zelgadis had no idea what it was saying, if anything, but it sounded excited about something. Something... Zelgadis' thoughts were starting to clear, so he wracked his brain. There was something about being trapped, but he seemed to have been trapped for a long time before now. Yet something told him something had happened more recently, throwing a major spin to his earlier ordeal.

The creature knelt down next to him, Zelgadis finally noticing some more details, mainly the large wings and dragon-like tail. This obviously wasn't a natural creature, but a combination of various sorts. What was the word...Kai? Cha? ...chimera!

Zelgadis bolted upright, but then fell back onto the ground. Unable to stand, he instead peered about the room, finally recognizing the people standing around.

"You okay, Zelgadis?" The tall blond asked.

Zelgadis shook his head one last time, feeling satisfied when the brain fog finally lifted. "Ow..." he replied.

"I'll take that as a yes," the girl replied. Lina was her name... "If you're feeling pain, that means you're going to live," she grinned.

Gourry, that was his name, leaned down next to Lina. "Think we should give him some clothes now?"

"Wha..?" Zelgadis glanced down, horrified to see he had been laying buck naked on the ground. The really cold ground, now that he thought about it. Zelgadis shivered as he looked for something to hide behind, being saved by a large feathery wing covering him.

Amelia kept her gaze diverted, not wanting to shame Zelgadis any more than he already had to be.

"Oh, right..." Lina suddenly blushed, turning her gaze on Dorel. Without a word Dorel signaled for Servee to fetch something to remedy the situation, the obedient little chimera dashing off to return a moment later with what looked like a blanket. Lina accepted it, thrusting it at Gourry to pass along.

"Thanks," Zelgadis mumbled when Gourry handed the blanket off, being quick to cover himself.

Lina walked up to Zelgadis, offering him a hand up. She staggered a bit under his weight, but was able to remain standing. "Careful there, don't step on me! Anyway, you haven't said anything yet. What do you think of the new you, Zel?"

"New me?" Zelgadis asked. He flinched when he received a pinch on the arm in response. "Ow! Why'd you do that?"

Lina smirked. He really didn't have a clue! "Just testing your senses, Zel. Sheesh! I mean, I only found a way to give you what you've wanted all this time." She reached up and tussled his hair, enjoying having the advantage.

"Stop it," Zelgadis swatted Lina's hand away.

"Wow, what a grouch. I thought you'd be happy." Lina held her offended hand, sticking her tongue out at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis did look at his hand again, noticing that it no longer was blue, or hard. He reached up to touch his chin, then his brow, amazed to feel nothing extra jutting out. A small smile came to his face.

"Now that's more like it," Lina grinned. "Do I get a thank you at least? You better believe you owe me big for this."

Zelgadis lost the smile. Great, just what Lina needed. Something else to gloat about. He felt someone looking at him, turning to see Amelia still seated on the floor, giving him a curious look. "I can't thank you yet, Lina. You're not done yet. Or did you forget about Amelia?"

Lina stiffened. "Er, no, of course not! Just wanted to collect you off the floor and make sure you were okay before we do the same to Amelia." Lina turned to face the person in question. "You're okay with that, right, Amelia?" At the chirped response, Lina turned back to Zelgadis. "See, she knows she wasn't forgotten. Now let's get you cleaned up before we go through this again..."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Zelgadis sat against the wall, not yet being used to walking on only two legs without a tail to balance. He adjusted the itchy clothing, not yet used to the feel of cloth on his skin, either. He glanced over at his constant companion, watching as Amelia looked worriedly at the closed door.

"Don't worry, Lina knows what she's doing this time. It shouldn't take as long." Zelgadis gave her a small smile, but frowned at the yowled response. "Amelia, I...I can't understand you." He frowned more as he watched her drop her head back down to rest on her front feet, sighing in defeat. Okay, that he understood easily...

Unsure what else to do, Zelgadis twiddled his thumbs. He had become used to having a softer hide in the past few months, but having regained his normal human skin was still something of a novelty. He just wasn't sure what to do with himself, having devoted so much of his life to serving Rezo, and then searching for a way to regain his humanity...what was he supposed to do now?

He must have been showing outward agitation, because Amelia chirped at him, placing a paw over his hand. Zelgadis had to stop himself from recoiling at the sight of those claws, even though he knew Amelia would never purposely harm him. Instead he gave her a small smile, placing his free hand over her paw. First, concentrate on getting Amelia back to how she should be. He could worry about everything else after that.

To Be Continued...

_Author's Notes: Man oh man, I'm glad to be able to attend university to extend my learning and get into a better job and all, but it really cuts down on the writing time. I wrote this about a week ago, then had no time to really even look at it at all. I was wanting to right more (as per usual), but it'll have to wait after I get through four tests and various homework assignments. Sigh..._

_Anyway, whee. Can anyone tell I like science? I have too much fun writing Dorel's dialogue. And as far as Zelgadis goes, I couldn't put him through that and be like, "Oh no, sorry, you're only getting half your cure." The logical person in me couldn't see that happening._

_I feel this story is drawing nearer to a conclusion, but there are still so many loose ends to tie up. I just really hope I can keep my wits about me and remember everything I originally thought up when the time comes to finish this off. My little pet project really got out of hand..._

Next time: Zelgadis and Amelia get to experience the positives and negatives of their situation...plus more as I remember it.


	21. And then there were two

"Is sleep all anyone ever does around here? You can't expect me to be the only one to work! I can't believe you guys!"

Amelia opened her eyes to see Lina prodding Gourry rather irately, causing the swordsman to jerk awake. Amelia was about to get up herself, but a weight against her side kept her from moving. Wha..?

Lina turned her attention to Amelia and smiled. "Now that is too cute for words. I'd have never thought Zelgadis the sort to snuggle like that."

Amelia tried to turn her head to see what Lina meant, but her head was also restricted. She could see something just out of the corner of her eye, a closer look revealing fingers resting against her face.

Lina walked casually over, twirling a small vial in her hand. "What say you, Amelia. Are you ready to get this over with, or would you rather be Zelgadis' pillow?"

Amelia was thankful she was covered in fur. No doubt she'd be blushing right now under normal circumstances. She shot Lina what she hoped was an unamused look and yowled quietly.

Lina just grinned, kneeling down where Amelia couldn't turn her head to see her well. "Hey Zel, c'mon Zel, wakey wakey..." She cooed, but when she got no response she frowned. "Come on, mister lazy. Just because you're human now doesn't mean you get to sleep your life away!"

Still no response. Lina glared at Zelgadis. "Okay, if you're going to be like that...sorry, Amelia." Lina stomped on Amelia's tail, causing the poor girl to screech in pain, but more importantly, also causing Amelia to bolt in surprise. Needless to say, Zelgadis had a very rude awakening when his soft pillow became a cold hard floor.

Zelgadis jerked awake in time to hear what had to be Amelia scolding Lina, but for the life of him all he heard were a lot of yowls, growls, and snarls. A hand was offered to him and he looked up to see Gourry standing over him.

"Come on, Zelgadis." Gourry was watching Lina face off against an angry Amelia. He knew when to leave, and right now he didn't want to get involved in girls fighting.

Zelgadis yawned, "What are they fighting about now?"

Gourry shook his head as he walked toward the door. "You don't want to know." Before they left, Gourry turned back to Lina and Amelia. "Zelgadis and I'll wait outside, Lina."

Lina and Amelia's spat died as soon as it started, as they turned to watch the two men leave. Lina turned back to Amelia and shrugged, Amelia turning to glare at a nearby wall.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, sheesh! Are you happy now, Amelia? I wanted the guys out of here so you'd have some privacy, but never mind." Lina followed after where Gourry and Zelgadis had just gone to make sure the door was closed all the way. The last thing she needed was peeping toms...

Amelia didn't reply, still staring at the wall as her tail thrashed around angrily.

Lina sighed. "Amelia, you can be mad at me later, okay? Let's just get this over with so we can get out of this place." She smiled when Amelia seemed to agree, getting up from the floor and stalking over to Lina. "Besides, it won't matter soon anyway since you won't have a tail that's smarting." Lina smirked.

Amelia thrashed her tail one last time (making sure it smacked into Lina) before giving a sigh. Lina was just being Lina, and although she didn't agree with her methods, Lina's intentions were mostly in the right place. Amelia lifted a foreleg in offering.

Lina took the offered leg and searched out a place to inject the vial's contents. Only... "You have too much fur! You would have to make this complicated." Lina grit her teeth as she parted the offending fur, until she thought she found a good spot.

Amelia let out a cry as Lina jabbed her arm, but didn't jerk away. Zelgadis hadn't had much pain until things started to take effect, so Amelia knew the pain from the needle was nothing to what was to come. She grit her teeth and waited.

Lina opted to back away from Amelia. Getting hit with a tail was bad enough! She didn't want to subject herself to needless punishment. She moved over to the door, having a feeling certain people might try to break in should Amelia be too vocal. "Not what we want at all," Lina sighed.

Lina started to count the stones in the wall as she waited, meeting Amelia's gaze a few times. Lina was starting to get suspicious she'd forgotten something when Amelia suddenly doubled over in pain.

"_I will not cry out, I will not cry out... I've been through much worse than this! It will be over soon eno-" _Amelia jerked, "Ow!" She yowled in absolute pain as her body began to shrink and extra appendages disappeared back into her body.

Lina for her part braced herself against the door, fending off the worried voices coming from outside. "It's fine, everything is _fine_! Give the girl some privacy!"

Amelia finally quieted down, drawing Lina's attention. Lina blinked at the sight before her: a big pile of fur? "Umm...Amelia?" Lina crept forward. She jumped as a sneeze came from the pile, causing fur to fly.

Amelia sneezed again as she tried to get all of the loose fur out of her face.

"Dang, Amelia, you really did have a lot of fur!" Lina started to laugh, but then her laughter died in her throat.

Amelia cleared more of the offending fur away from her to see she was in fact back to her human self. "What is it, Miss Lina? What's wrong?" Amelia couldn't help but bring her hand up to her mouth to feel her teeth. Nope, those were finally back to how they should be...

Lina didn't speak in reply, instead reaching out to touch Amelia's hair.

"My.." Amelia also grasped some of her hair and looked at it. Instead of being dark, it was completely white! "What happened to my hair?"

"Let's not worry about that right now, I'm sure it's just temporary. We better get you dressed before the others come in." Lina held out a small bundle of clothing. "They aren't much, but they'll work for now, until we can get you something better."

"Thank you," Amelia took the offered clothing, quickly pulling the too large shirt over her head as she brushed more fur away. She started to stand to pull on the pants, but winced in pain. "...Miss Lina, it still hurts!"

"What?" Lina blinked.

Amelia rubbed her backside. "It feels like someone kicked me." She shot Lina a dirty look, but pulled on the pants anyway.

"Oh, right..." Lina laughed nervously. "I'll make it up to you, okay?"

Amelia just shook her head and stepped clear of what had been her fur coat not a few minutes before.

_Author's Notes: ...three months? It's been over three months since I last updated! Somebody needs to kick me! School did eat up most of my past few months (the last semester was a bit more than I'd been expecting), but I had some other things take up my time as well. I certainly never thought I'd let that much time get away from me... My apologies to those who have been following this story._

_And now I'll apologize some more. This was going to be longer, but there's something going around the campus right now, and my roommate was kind enough to bring it home and share with me. I am so tired of being sick... I'm hoping to be recovered enough some time this weekend/next week to get some more written, as this story is so close to being finished. I still have all those loose ends to tie up is all. (Why do I do this to myself again?)_

Next time: Joyful reunion! The gang's finally all back together and on their way out. They just need to make a quick stop (and perhaps quick lecture speech) to the local village. (Possible sap warning. I've not written it, so I can't say for certain, but seeing as it snuck into this chapter...)


	22. The finale! Or is it?

Zelgadis paced back and forth, impatience written all over his face. "What's taking so long? Shouldn't they be done by now?"

Gourry just shrugged and leaned back into his spot against the wall.

"Umm, if I may?" Dorel cringed as Zelgadis glared at him. If he hadn't been tied up, he'd have made a break for it a long time ago. "I'm sorry, but this was all an experiment. There's no definite time for when things should happen or not. To even hope to attain such a thing would re-"

Zelgadis stuffed a gag in Dorel's mouth. "Okay, I get it! You talk too much.." Zelgadis resumed his pacing, ignoring the muffled complaining coming from Dorel. He paused when he heard talking, turning his full attention when the door finally opened.

Lina poked her head out. "Oh, wow, you guys are actually awake. Either we didn't take long enough, or someone was anxious." She winked at Zelgadis, who could only balk in response. "Uh huh, just as I thought." Lina jumped as if she'd been poked, withdrawing her head back into the room.

"Miss Lina, don't tease him. Let's just leave this place, please." Amelia's voice was easy to hear, then the girl in question pushed through the doorway again. She paused a moment to study the small group before her, before launching herself at Zelgadis!

Zelgadis caught her easily enough, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face as he found himself caught up in a hug. "What's this for?"

Amelia beamed back up at him. "It's just something I've wanted to do for a while."

Zelgadis studied Amelia for a moment, finally noticing her hair was still white. He took some of her hair in his hand and rubbed it between his fingers, staring at it in curiosity.

"Oh, yeah. That." Lina coughed, doing her best not to comment on the current situation. "Dorel, what's the deal with Amelia's hair?"

"Hey, it looks like your hair when you overdo things, Lina." Gourry commented, also curious.

"Yeah, but she's not been using magic for a while, at least that I'm aware of." Lina quirked a brow at Amelia, who shook her head in reply. "That's what I thought. So Dorel, out with it. What's the deal?"

Lina turned to the man in question when she didn't get a response. "Okay, who gagged the crazy?" Lina reached out and yanked the gag out of Dorel's mouth.

"Thank you, Miss Inverse." Dorel spit leftover gag from his mouth. "As to your question, it's a simple thing, really. White fur, or hair if you prefer, does not produce pigment, pigment being what gives color, you see. So, seeing as she's not been needing to produce pigment these past few months, it's easy enough to see why her hair is still white, even after driving out the unwanted elements from her system." Dorel grinned, looking pleased with himself.

Lina just looked at Dorel. "...is this why you guys gagged him?" Zelgadis and Gourry nodded in reply. "You do talk too much, Dorel! So, what you're saying is that she has white hair because she's not been needing color?"

Dorel just nodded, noticing Lina holding the gag threateningly.

"It's not permanent?" Zelgadis couldn't help but glare at Dorel again.

"Uh, it shouldn't be, no." Dorel looked like he wanted to say more, but he bit his tongue.

"All things considered, I don't mind having white hair for a while, over everything else I had to deal with." Amelia couldn't help but poke at her canines again, just to make sure they were indeed back to normal.

Lina smirked. "And all things considered, it's nice for someone else to look like _an old lady_, eh, Amelia?"

Amelia blushed. "You still remember that?"

"How could I forget?" Lina frowned. "I'm far too young to look like that!"

"At ease, Lina, at ease. Didn't you want to get out of here?" Gourry tried to subdue her before she caused needless destruction.

"Miss Lina, what are we going to do with Mister Dorel?" Amelia had finally released her hold on Zelgadis, but she remained close by. She glanced over at the man in question.

Lina cupped an elbow in one hand while she tapped her chin with a finger. "Good question... No way can we leave him here to his own devices. Hmm..." A large grin spread across Lina's face. "Say Dorel, what do you think of Atlas City?"

"Uh, it's the magic capital of the world?" Dorel looked nervous.

"Yes," Lina nodded, "so don't you think they'd love to have a man of your skill and expertise?"

"I think they'd lock him up sooner than anything." Zelgadis added in, crossing his arms as he grinned smugly.

Lina met Zelgadis' gaze and grinned more. "Exactly. But, they might let him continue his research if he stays on his best behavior."

"I, but, that's not fair!" Dorel fought against his bindings.

"I think it's very fair! Mister Dorel, you need to learn right and wrong in experimenting on unwilling subjects!" Amelia exclaimed. "I think it's a great idea, Miss Lina."

Lina nodded. "Well then, if we've nothing left to do here, let's go. No offense, but you need to clean more. This place reeks, Dorel." Lina made a face.

"Hey Lina, what about that?" Gourry pointed at Servee, who was doing his best to hide in a corner. "Should we take it?"

Lina glared down at the small creature, who returned a look of fear. Lina finally let out a sigh. "It's annoying, but I don't think it can do any real harm. I've a feeling Dorel would protest if we put the thing out of its misery anyway."

Dorel nodded. "Servee's been with me for a long time. Please, don't harm him!"

"Can you get him to behave?"

"Yes, yes, of course!"

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Life was going on as usual in the village, people working, people selling, people buying, so on and so forth. A stir began to go through the village. Someone was coming!

A small group of travelers entered the small village, with a rather put out man in tow. He had an odd little creature tied and bound on his shoulder, but other than that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The villagers watched as the group made their way down the street, before stopping at the village leader's home.

Everyone crowded forward, curious about these visitors, but they were to be disappointed. The village leader let the group into his house, then shut the door. People hung around for a moment, before shuffling off to what they had been doing before.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"...so you see, Mister Esgrey, your troubles are over. We didn't slay your monsters, but we did make sure they or no others will ever cause you grief again." Lina tugged on the rope around Dorel to prove her point. "You however, won't get off so easy. Amelia?"

Amelia nodded and stepped forward. She cleared her throat, then with a deep breath..."Mister Esgrey, I came here to help with whatever troubles your village suffered, but you did me a horrible disservice. You could have prevented all of this if you had just stood up to Mister Dorel! What's more, if you had only said something to me about it, I could have stopped this! Instead you sent me off on my way with no warning whatsoever, and what's more, when I fell victim to Mister Dorel, instead of helping me, you and your village tried to kill me! Mister Esgrey, if you had a problem, why didn't you just say something?" Amelia placed her hands on her hips and shot Esgrey and indignant look.

Zelgadis stepped up to stand next to Amelia. "You realize she did you no wrong in all of this, even with the treatment you gave her. She even saved your own daughter's life, and how did you repay it? If I hadn't learned anything from this, you would be dead where you stand."

Esgrey could only gulp. He recognized the look in Zelgadis' eyes and was still fearing for his life. He finally dropped to his knees and held his hands up in a pleading gesture. "I...I cannot even begin to apologize... We've had strange monsters terrorizing us for years now. We didn't know exactly who was making them, only that any time we sent someone to find out, they never returned. I feared for my people..for my daughter."

"Where is Rose?" Lina asked, her features softening somewhat.

"She's...she's in her room. She's still not fully recovered from when she was attacked." Esgrey glanced at Zelgadis and Amelia, but quickly averted his gaze.

Amelia nodded her head. "Please, Mister Esgrey, will you call her down?"

Esgrey looked at Amelia with a curious expression, but did as he was asked. Rose entered into the room, still hobbling slightly. She looked up at her father, nervous to be around so many people.

"Don't worry Rose, you're not in trouble." Lina smiled. "Come here." Lina held her hands out to the smaller girl, who nodded and approached Lina before taking her hand. Lina knelt down and whispered in her ear as she escorted the girl to Amelia's side. Rose looked from Lina to Amelia, not sure, but with some prodding from Lina she finally stood next to Amelia, who in turn knelt down.

"How is your leg, Rose? Does it still hurt?" Amelia spoke in a quiet tone.

Rose nodded.

"Here, let me see it. I can help."

Esgrey stepped forward in concern, but Lina placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not done with you yet. Don't worry about your daughter, Amelia's one of the best."

Aside from Lina still grilling Esgrey silently in a corner, everyone watched in silence as Amelia tended to Rose's leg. Amelia frowned as she felt for the original break in the bone. "This hasn't healed well, that's why it still causes you pain. Rose, this will hurt, but only for a moment. Can you handle that?"

Rose nodded, but bit her lip.

Amelia cast a healing spell and reset the bone. Rose let out a cry, but stopped as soon as she had started and looked up at Amelia in wonder.

"It...it doesn't hurt?"

Amelia smiled at the girl then stood up, holding out a hand to help Rose up.

Rose stood on her leg, staring down at it in wonder. She finally tried jumping up and down, again marveling at feeling no pain. "It doesn't hurt! Thank you!"

Amelia knelt down to be at eye level again. "No, thank you, Rose. Without your help none of this could have been possible."

Rose looked at Amelia in confusion, but if what Lina had said was true... She studied Amelia for a moment. "...kitty?"

Amelia nodded. "You are a wonderful little girl, Rose. You looked past what you saw to see what was inside. If you hadn't helped Mister Zelgadis and me, we wouldn't have survived the winter. Never lose that, Rose."

Rose nodded, then gave Amelia a hug. Amelia returned the hug, then got back on her feet. She nudged Zelgadis in the side.

Zelgadis sighed. "Sorry I scared you before." He frowned, hating having to apologize.

Rose looked up at Zelgadis and nodded, but then dashed off back to her father. Zelgadis gave a sigh.

Amelia smiled back. "Thank you, Mister Zelgadis, it means a lot to me."

"Hey, Lina, we're done over here." Gourry called out across the room, stopping Lina from her lecture.

Lina nodded at Gourry, finishing up what she had been saying. "So, are we agreed?" Esgrey nodded, causing Lina to nod in turn. "Good! I don't want to have to come up here ever again if I can help it, understand? If you have a problem come up, nip it in the bud. Okay, nice to see we're agreed on that."

Lina stepped away from Esgrey. "Okay gang, are we out of here?"

"Yeah!" Gourry cheered, the others not far behind. Dorel just silently cursed his fate.

"Excellent! Esgrey, it's been a...an experience I'd not soon repeat. Good luck." Lina gave a small wave. "It was nice to meet you, Rose." Lina smiled, then ushered her group back out the door and out of the village.

"So what now, Lina?" Gourry asked.

"Well, first thing first, we need to ditch Dorel in Atlas," Lina again tugged on Dorel's bindings to make sure he kept up, "then after that...I have no plans whatsoever. What about you two?" Lina glanced back at Zelgadis and Amelia.

Zelgadis shrugged, instead delighting on the feel of the sun on his skin. "I don't know. I don't really have any reason to be constantly traveling now. Maybe I could go settle down somewhere..."

"Seyruun?" Gourry asked.

Zelgadis sputtered. "What?"

Gourry stopped and looked at Zelgadis. "Well, isn't it only right? I mean, you and Amelia have been sleeping with each other for a while now, haven't you?"

"..." Zelgadis couldn't say anything.

"..." Amelia was also speechless, and turning an interesting shade of red.

"Gourry!!" Lina bonked her companion on the head. "How could you say something like that?!"

Gourry tried to shield his head from more punishment. "But Lina, it's true! They shared that cave, right? They had to sleep in the same room!"

Zelgadis coughed. "There is that..."

"But, but nothing happened between us, honest!" Amelia was getting very flustered. "Oh, I wasn't even thinking! Daddy's going to kill me! ..oh, Daddy!" Amelia gasped.

"What's wrong, Amelia?" Lina asked.

"I haven't written home in months! Daddy's going to fear the worst! Oh, I am so dead when he finds me..." Amelia pulled at her hair.

"Don't fret yet, Amelia, just tell him the truth." Lina grinned.

"The truth?" Amelia looked at Lina for an explanation.

"Sure. Just tell him you couldn't write home because you were undercover. You had to help bring a horrible man to justice. Isn't that right, Dorel?" Lina winked and jerked on Dorel's bindings again, but the man just sighed.

Amelia looked at Lina in awe. "You're right...you're absolutely right! And I couldn't write to him sooner because it would have blown my cover. Miss Lina, you're a genius!"

"I know," Lina grinned, "but it's always nice to hear it from another source. Now we just need to sort out this sleeping together thing..."

"Miss Lina, it wasn't like that at all..." Amelia frowned, but stopped when she felt a hand grip hers. She looked up to see Zelgadis smiling at her.

"That's what you say, but I've seen how you two act around each other. You can't hide it forever."

"Oh, look who's talking!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

The gang disappeared down the road, content to be out on the road once more, but also to be in the company of friends. A din could be heard for a while after they disappeared out of sight, but eventually they were lost to the wind...

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A young woman walked through the forest as she searched for food to take back home. As she searched for a berry bush, something twinkled in the brush below. Curious, the young woman knelt in the dirt, digging around until she uncovered what had caught her eye. She studied the odd piece of metal as she brushed caked dirt from it. A serpent coiled around a family crest looked back at her.

"This is...but that would mean..."

The young woman stared down at the crest in disbelief, but then a smile graced her features. She would have to be sure to return the crest when her time came to venture into the world.

The...end?

_Author's Notes: Wow, I finally finished this thing! For something coming from such a basic idea, this story really did become a monster. It's hard to believe it's all over..._

_Thanks is due first and foremost to **Raven Summersong**, who gave me the courage to write this in the first place. Where ever you've gotten off to, I hope you find nothing but happiness. It was fun to conspire._

_Also, thanks again to **Nimrosette,** who did a good job of keeping this straight back when I was still beating out the initial story. I think you're the best story proof reader I could ever ask for._

_Thanks also goes out to **DQBunny**, **Maddy**, **EarthstarChan**, **Snapdragon**, and many others who offered up reviews when I initially posted this on my Live Journal. Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I'd not have finished this without the guilt you gave me._

_Last, but not least, thanks goes out to everyone who reviewed here. I was overjoyed to find reviewers who thought, and gave constructive criticism. I think it's been more joy reading them than writing this silly story._

_As to the story itself, yes, that is in fact the end. I hate making things final, so I left it very open-ended with the ending (and yes, that was an older Rose we saw at the end). I never explained it in the story, but Amelia did lose her family crest when Zelgadis originally knocked her to the ground._

_Also, the old lady comment... In Slayers Wonderful there's an optional part in the game where Lina gets kidnapped and the group later finds her in a lab, but her magic's been drained from her so her hair is white. Amelia freaks and yells, "Miss Lina looks like an old lady!", so I had to work that back into this story. (Lina makes a full recovery in the game, so she only had the white hair for a short time.)_

_And wow...that's it. Thanks again for sticking with me. I know it's taken a lot longer than I would have liked, but I guess that's college life for you. (It has a way of sapping away free time and creativity.) I don't know if I'll be writing anything else for a while, but I'm not leaving this site any time soon. What with the school schedule, I'll just be going back to being a reader/reviewer. That's not to say I'll never write again. Should the inspiration hit, you'll be seeing me again._

_Thanks again guys, it's been an adventure._

_-Ichiban Victory_


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